The majority of Christians have no problem with most of the Old Testament—Psalm 23 is a favorite for many—but the violence in the Old Testament (=OT) causes concern for both Christians and non-Christians who read the Bible. The problem is not just that violence and war are prominent in some OT books, but that God is often […]
Have you ever read a book or heard a sermon on the so-called “spiritual gifts.” There is actually no such thing. Go ahead. Search your Bible. You won’t find the phrase “spiritual gifts” anywhere. Okay. You found it? But it isn’t in the original Greek language (the language that the New Testament was first written […]
For a number of reasons some people have wondered if perhaps Jesus was married and if Jesus had children: “Jesus’s Family Tomb“— Was Jesus buried with his wife and kids? The tomb was found in 1980, but a 2007 movie and book made a big deal about it. The so-called “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife”—Discovered in […]
My second published book arrived today: Johannine Writings and Apocalyptic: An Annotated Bibliography, co-authored with Stanley Porter, Johannine Studies 1 (Leiden: Brill, 2013). For more info see the Brill web page. It’s so expensive that I don’t expect you to buy it (see here!), but you can view much of the contents on googlebooks here. […]
Ephesians 5:24-25 says, “Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Usually verse 24 gets all the attention, but I pondered recently what it might mean for me to […]
I had a friend ask me for some suggested reading on Christian evaluations of homosexuality (from more than one perspective). I thought I would share my response here. The links in the titles take you to Amazon. Some of the books are also available for partial viewing on googlebooks (for example, see here). BOOKS […]
For most of the 1900’s, scholars (and hence pastors’ popular teaching) have followed Hermann Gunkel’s conclusion (from 1888) that God was silent during the intertestamental period. However, many people aren’t aware that biblical scholarship has moved away from that view.
“My ways are not your ways!” I’ve heard Christians quote this verse in numerous contexts to suggest that God’s ways are completely different than and even contrary to human reasoning. Let me give two examples: 1/ The problem of evil– some might say we could never understand why God allows evil (or some specific evils) […]
Naomi went to Moab and there both her husband and her only two sons died (ch 1). In verses 13 and 20 she acknowledges that God has been a part of this: “the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me” (v. 20, NASB = NIV “the Almighty has made my life very bitter”). Q- How […]
Do I have disciples? Can I disciple someone? Or is it all about Jesus Christ? These are some foundational questions I asked myself recently about discipleship. In answering my questions I observed: 1/ When referring to Christians as “disciples,” the NT never uses the term “disciple” in reference to anyone other than Jesus Christ. You […]