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Drunkenness in the Old Testament with Dr. Rebekah Welton (Podcast)
Read more: Drunkenness in the Old Testament with Dr. Rebekah Welton (Podcast)In this episode we’re joined by Dr. Rebekah Welton, who is Lecturer in Hebrew Bible at the University of Exeter and the author of ‘He Is A Glutton and a Drunkard’: Deviant Consumption in the Hebrew Bible (Published by Brill). In our discussion we talk about broader conceptions in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible of feasting,…
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Wine, Soil, and Salvation with Rev. Dr. Mark Scarlata (Podcast)
Read more: Wine, Soil, and Salvation with Rev. Dr. Mark Scarlata (Podcast)In this episode we’re joined by Rev Dr Mark Scarlata, who is Tutor and Senior Lecturer in Old Testament at St. Mellitus College, the Vicar-Chaplain at St. Edward, King and Martyr Church in Cambridge, and the author of Wine, Soil, and Salvation in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament (published by Cambridge University Press). In…
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Check Out My New Article on Wine and Temple Theology in Ephesians 5.18–21
Read more: Check Out My New Article on Wine and Temple Theology in Ephesians 5.18–21Recently my new article on Ephesians 5.18–21 was published in the Polish Catholic Theological Journal, Biblica et Patristica Thoruniensia. The article is called “Filled with the Spirit: Wine and Worship in Levitical Light (Ephesians 5.18–21).” In this piece I try to make sense of a number of intriguing issues related to Ephesians 5.18–21 in its literary context…
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Responding to “50 Reasons Why I Don’t Drink”
Read more: Responding to “50 Reasons Why I Don’t Drink”Did you all see the article, “50 Reasons Why I Don’t Drink,” make its way around Facebook? Typically when I see stuff like this I just roll my eyes and carry on with my business. But for some unknown reason I decided to give this article a quick glance. Most of the points were predictable….
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Why did Jesus use Alcohol for Communion?
Read more: Why did Jesus use Alcohol for Communion?Until I recently moved to Scotland, I spent most of my Christian life in American Evangelical churches. In these churches, they have unanimously done communion with grape juice, without the option to use wine if one so desired. As much as I regularly experienced this, I never really understood why churches decide to use grape juice instead…
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The Eucharist with Children
Read more: The Eucharist with ChildrenThe Huffington Post recently published an article thanking the parents of young children for bringing their kids to church because of all that it teaches us about being part of the Body of Christ. I couldn’t agree more. Specifically, I think of all the things the children in our church have taught me about the…
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Christian Beer and the Question of Weed
Read more: Christian Beer and the Question of WeedThis week I’m in Amsterdam for the International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. Yes, that’s right, a Bible conference in Amsterdam. I can already say that this city is one of my favorites. It is absolutely wonderful. The canals and architecture are picturesque and make me wish I intended to stay longer. Of course,…
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God Feeds Us: Finding Acceptance in the Eucharist
Read more: God Feeds Us: Finding Acceptance in the EucharistWhen I was a kid, tons of things scared me–not the least of which was taking Communion. I can remember walking into church and being filled with dread when I saw the Communion trays stacked at the front of sanctuary. I would spend the entire service wracking my brain trying to remember and confess everything…
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Alcohol in the Bible: Part Two (The New Testament)
Read more: Alcohol in the Bible: Part Two (The New Testament)Last week I posted an entry on alcohol in the OT and you are personally invited to read my former post before reading this if you have not done so, since the NT builds on a lot of the same theological imagery. I’m not sure what the general assumption of most Christians would be; whether…
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Alcohol in the Bible: Part One (The Old Testament)
Read more: Alcohol in the Bible: Part One (The Old Testament)“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” This quote, uttered by Benjamin Franklin, is closer to the mark than most Christians may realize. Growing up in a fairly conservative evangelical tradition (albeit in Las Vegas!), I was basically raised to believe that alcohol was evil. Period. The Bible was…