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Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought (by Aaron Koller)
Read more: Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought (by Aaron Koller)I just had the privilege of reading Aaron Koller’s new book on Esther which came out just a few weeks before mine (Esther and Her Elusive God). I would have liked to engage him in my book, but this brief review will have to suffice (for now). Aaron Koller, who is Associate Professor of Near Eastern and…
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My Book, Esther and Her Elusive God, is Out!
Read more: My Book, Esther and Her Elusive God, is Out!I am pleased to say that my book, Esther and Her Elusive God: How A Secular Story Functions As Scripture, is finally available for purchase. The book was endorsed by N. T. Wright (St Andrews) and Chris Miller (Cedarville), and Dr. Ronald W. Pierce (Biola) wrote the Foreword. The book can be purchased from the publisher’s website,…
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From Premillennialism to Amillennialism And Back: An Eschatological Change of Mind
Read more: From Premillennialism to Amillennialism And Back: An Eschatological Change of MindNearly two years ago I wrote a post entitled, “Amillennialism: Rethinking and Critiquing my Eschatology After Five Years.” In that post I analyzed an earlier blog post I wrote back in 2007 called, “How I Became An Amillennialist.” Two years ago I concluded that I was still an Amillennialist, but I realized that many of…
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Ancient Readers & Their Scriptures: Early Bird Registration Ends Soon!
Read more: Ancient Readers & Their Scriptures: Early Bird Registration Ends Soon!My colleague Garrick Allen and I are organizing a symposium at the University of St Andrews on 2–3 June, 2014. We’re currently still accepting abstracts until 1 February, which is also the last day for our early bird registration (more details below), so do sign up and come join us! The title for our symposium…
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Announcing: Ecclesia & Ethics II
Read more: Announcing: Ecclesia & Ethics IILast May we had our first meeting of the Ecclesia & Ethics conference. This conference was live, on-line, in real time via Webinar (gotomeeting.com). There were no airplane fees, no travel days, no accommodation fees, no annoying roommates, no special travel documents required, nothing like that. We simply asked that everyone make a small donation…
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Innate Morality & Godlessness
Read more: Innate Morality & GodlessnessIs there any good reason—biblical, philosophical, scientific or otherwise—to believe in innate morality? This post is partly a sequel to my earlier response to Ray Comfort’s video, Evolution vs. God. If you haven’t seen the video or read my comments about the video, check it out here. I don’t intend to rehash that earlier post, nor…
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The Original Christmas Flash Mob
Read more: The Original Christmas Flash MobRecently, I saw a video of a flash mob that I thought you all should check out (if you haven’t already). I first saw it at a church service a few Sundays ago. Check it out: As I was watching this video initially I thought about how random it would be to experience one of…
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SBLAAR: Craft Beer Reception
Read more: SBLAAR: Craft Beer ReceptionIf you’re in Baltimore already or coming later this week for the annual meetings of SBL, AAR, IBR, ETS, and all of the other annual conferences, do come along to a craft beer reception that I am co-organizing with my colleague and office-mate, Christopher Brewer (isn’t that name just perfect?! The Christ-bearing Beer-maker). The reception…
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Ray Comfort vs. Evolution
Read more: Ray Comfort vs. EvolutionFellow Christians, our enemy is not evolution, it is naturalism. Please, please, please recognize the difference. Ray Comfort, well-known evangelist and co-founder of The Way of the Master along with Kirk Cameron, has produced a new apologetics video entitled, “Evolution vs. God.” Here it is below. It is only 38 minutes long so if you…
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The Beatific Vision
Read more: The Beatific VisionHave you ever wondered what it would be like to see God? If you haven’t had this thought before, think about it for a second with me. Let’s rephrase the question, have you ever wondered what it will be like to see God? Of course, no one can see God and live (Ex 33:20), but…