Latest Posts
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A Tragic Day
Read more: A Tragic DayOn days like this one, we feel it more, we see it more. Some of us may only see, while others are closer and may feel. We don’t always get to choose which of the two we are. But once you are of those that feel, you cannot go back to merely seeing. A day…
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How the Grinch Was Too Late to Steal Christmas
Read more: How the Grinch Was Too Late to Steal Christmas“Pooh-pooh to the Whos!” he was grinch-ish-ly humming. “They’re finding out now that no Christmas is coming! “They’re just waking up! I know just what they’ll do! “Their mouths will hang open a minute or two “Then all the Whos down in Who-ville will all cry BOO-HOO!” “That’s a…
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Jesus and His Father
Read more: Jesus and His FatherAnyone who’s come over for dinner has seen my collection of Peruvian oil paintings of the Virgin Mary. Several years ago, a spending spree and newfound obsession with Catholic art (despite being a Reformed Baptist) landed me with a few too many Marys: three hanging in the hallway and one above my bed. Buyer’s remorse…
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St. Augustine’s Institute for Biblical Hermeneutics (Part I)
Read more: St. Augustine’s Institute for Biblical Hermeneutics (Part I)The Bible bursts the bonds of our hermeneutical strategies. The Scriptures as the medium of divine communication are what Karl Barth called a “free Bible”. This is good news: the canon imposes itself upon us readers, transgressing the procrustean bed we inevitably bring to the table as interpreters. For Barth this fact necessitates the development…
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The Beauty of Christmas Carnage
Read more: The Beauty of Christmas CarnageChristmas is about destruction. It’s about crushing. It’s about the elimination of God’s enemies. Intrigued? Let’s see what Matthew says. And as we do, remember: there is more than one way to eliminate and enemy… In Mathew 2:2, we see Magi, likely Babylonian scientists and astronomers familiar with the Jewish scriptures from Judah’s exile, have…
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BibleMesh Interview
Read more: BibleMesh InterviewIt’s always good to talk to the person next to you on an airplane flight. You never know, you just may end up sitting next to the developer of a new state-of-the-art Bible software. This very thing happened to me on my flight to Milwaukee for this year’s annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society….
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My Research Arsenal
Read more: My Research ArsenalI have been in a research program now for about two months. It has been both a rewarding and overwhelming experience. I imagine that most people who are involved in some sort of enormous research project spend a good amount of their time (often too much) figuring out not the actual problems of their project,…
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Jesus, Mr. Nice God
Read more: Jesus, Mr. Nice GodWas Jesus always nice? OK, so it’s not the deepest theological question we’ve ever tackled here at The Two Cities. But it’s an important one. Because, above all, the world expects Christians to be nice. Forget about holiness, evangelism and social justice. Just be nice. But if Christians bear any resemblance to Christ (and we…
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Pardon Me…
Read more: Pardon Me…After his recent trip to Asia, it’s good to see our President (well, the US President, to be sensitive to our international readers) is back in time for the important parts of his job- namely, the Presidential Pardon of a Thanksgiving Day Turkey. This year, Cobbler and his pal Gobbler received “the nod” to be…
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Obama Wins: Now What? (Guest Post)
Read more: Obama Wins: Now What? (Guest Post)On November 6th, Barack Obama was reelected faster than Thai food was delivered to my election night party. Though it is still obvious that our country is split down the middle, the election easily went to the Democratic Party. The people have spoken, and I think it’s time for Americans to accept this shift of…