Latest Posts
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Asking More of the Right Questions This Christmas
Read more: Asking More of the Right Questions This ChristmasWe’re Getting Christmas Wrong Over the past few Christmases, I’m noticing an uptick in blog posts and essays about how Christians are “getting Christmas wrong,” that our old quaint stories about Jesus being born in an animal stable are historically implausible, and that our hymns and advent traditions are being “spoiled” by eminent historians who…
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An Evangelical Black Theology of Liberation
Read more: An Evangelical Black Theology of LiberationIn James Cone’s revolutionary work, Black Theology & Black Power, Cone depicts a theological system that is truly black in its methodology and biblical in its exegetical foundation. Prior to his work, there was no theology by and for black people, and the prevailing theology of the day, a burgeoning evangelical theology, was decidedly white…
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Erasing Shame Podcast
Read more: Erasing Shame PodcastI had the opportunity to share about some of my research on shame on the Erasing Shame podcast with DJ Chang this past week. Check it out here: http://erasingshame.com/why-its-harder-for-filipino-americans-to-talk-about-shame/
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The Reality of Spiritual Warfare
Read more: The Reality of Spiritual WarfareIn the Old Testament the activity of evil spirits is described a few times, and most of the times the biblical author makes sure to highlight their subordination to God. Though spirits are subordinates of God, they also exercise their influence with humans. I want to draw your attention to a few texts, both Biblical…
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Bad Analogies and the need for Charity
Read more: Bad Analogies and the need for CharityThe news, once again, is not good. Migrant caravans or asylum-seekers are being tear-gassed at the border. An American Christian was killed when he attempted to evangelize to natives on the island of North Sentinel. A British Ph.D. student was convicted and sentenced to life in prison on espionage charges by the UAE. (Thankfully these…
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Celebrating Prof. N. T. Wright: One God, One People, One Future
Read more: Celebrating Prof. N. T. Wright: One God, One People, One FutureOne week ago I had the privilege of presenting Prof. N. T. Wright with a Festschrift (German for ‘celebration writing’), which is a sub-genre of scholarly books comprised of essays from former students, colleagues, and long-time friends. This kind of book celebrates the contributions of a particular scholar, typically on the occasion of a major birthday or…
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Our New Book: Ancient Readers and Their Scriptures
Read more: Our New Book: Ancient Readers and Their ScripturesI am thrilled to say that our new book is finally out, Ancient Readers and Their Scriptures: Engaging the Hebrew Bible in Early Judaism and Christianity. The book was published by Brill just a few weeks ago and will be on display just in time for the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature beginning this weekend in…
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Does the Apostolic Decree Command Christians Not to Eat Thanksgiving Turkey? Musings on Food and an Appeal to Reduce Meat Consumption
Read more: Does the Apostolic Decree Command Christians Not to Eat Thanksgiving Turkey? Musings on Food and an Appeal to Reduce Meat ConsumptionThe time was almost ten years ago precisely. Maybe you remember the shocking video I was watching. On my screen was Sarah Palin (in one of her many regrettable public moments), conducting an outdoor interview about pardoning turkeys, casually sipping her coffee, while two turkeys were being strangled to death behind her. I have neither…
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Walking with Grief
Read more: Walking with GriefThis past week, I had a few conversations with people who have recently lost loved ones or communities. Grief is always a difficult thing to talk about. The loss of a person who is dear to someone’s life or a loss of a community due to moving or other circumstances is so deeply painful. Our…
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Don’t Give In – Let Yourself Rest
Read more: Don’t Give In – Let Yourself RestIf there’s anything I’ve been habitually bad at, it’s resting. This has always seemed full of irony to me, given that I’m a Biblical Studies student. All over Scripture is talking of rest, not violating the Sabbath, looking forward to the true Sabbath, and basically a whole lot about learning that the world doesn’t depend…