Latest Posts
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Gleaning and Giving
Read more: Gleaning and GivingI’m going to continue with thoughts from the study of Ruth, as I started in my last post. These past two weeks, I’ve been leading the study on Ruth 2. In this chapter, we are introduced to Boaz’s character, and we see him as being a worthy man, inquires about Ruth, meets her, and generously…
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Review of Justification Reconsidered: Rethinking a Pauline Theme by Stephen Westerholm
Read more: Review of Justification Reconsidered: Rethinking a Pauline Theme by Stephen WesterholmThere continues to be a swirl of popular interest in the now not-so-new “New Perspective on Paul.” In Justification Reconsidered: Rethinking a Pauline Theme, Stephen Westerholm attempts “to update and to make more widely accessible earlier work” (viii), and thus demonstrate why he has not been persuaded by recent “revisionist” readings of Paul. The concise…
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How I Met God
Read more: How I Met GodFor Lacan, the Real [or God] is that which breaks into our Imaginary and Symbolic constellations. The Real is a rupture. The Real cannot be imagined or symbolized, it does not occupy a place, and yet it takes place. The Real is a crack within our existing political, religious and cultural configurations, a resistance that…
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I’m Coming Home, Too
Read more: I’m Coming Home, TooThis past Friday (July 11), the sports world received something far greater than free Slurpees (7/11 day) with the much anticipated announcement from LeBron James. Instead of returning to Miami in an attempt to continue the Heat’s near monopoly on the Eastern Conference, LeBron decided to return to Cleveland. I’d guess that most of you…
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Review of Reality, Grief, Hope: Three Urgent Prophetic Tasks by Walter Brueggemann
Read more: Review of Reality, Grief, Hope: Three Urgent Prophetic Tasks by Walter BrueggemannBrueggemann, Walter. Reality, Grief, Hope: Three Urgent Prophetic Tasks. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2014. 165 pages. Softcover. Retail: $15.00. In Reality, Grief, Hope: Three Urgent Prophetic Tasks, Walter Brueggemann suggests that the ancient Israelite ideological crisis caused by the destruction of Jerusalem can act as an analogy for the modern American ideological crisis caused by…
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The End of Friendship
Read more: The End of FriendshipThe other day I stumbled across Aristotle’s types of friendship. Aristotle noted that there are three forms of friendship: utility, pleasure, and virtue. A friendship based on utility is one in which both parties benefit or gain something from the relationship, like business partners. A friendship based on pleasure is one in which both parties…
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Review of The Role of Works at the Final Judgment edited by Alan P. Stanley.
Read more: Review of The Role of Works at the Final Judgment edited by Alan P. Stanley.Wilkin, Robert N., Thomas R. Schreiner, James D. G. Dunn, Michael P. Barber, and Alan P. Stanley.Four Views On the Role of Works at the Final Judgment. Edited by Alan P. Stanley. Counterpoints. Bible and Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013. 234 pages. Softcover. Retail: $17.99. ISBN: 9780310490333 “The Role of Works at the Final Judgement,”…
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Consume-ation
Read more: Consume-ation“A leader’s greatest fear is not something that might happen to us, is it something that might happen in us.” (John Ortberg, Willow Creek Leadership Summit 2007) Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their…
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The Power of Presence in the Midst of Suffering in Ruth
Read more: The Power of Presence in the Midst of Suffering in RuthI’m currently studying the book of Ruth with a small group at my church. I have to honestly admit that after finishing my seminary degree last year, that I hadn’t really studied the Bible in-depth until we started studying this book together. Studying the Bible in community really does bring a freshness to the text,…
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Humor and It’s Puzzle with Politics
Read more: Humor and It’s Puzzle with PoliticsMany of us may be familiar with the presidential impersonations of Steve Bridges (George W Bush) and Barack Obama (Reggie Brown), and have probably shared a good laugh at the uncanny likeness with which comedians of today are able to dissect our nation’s chief of state. Perhaps more readers might consumer regular helpings of…