Category: Featured

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He Gave Us Fiction

We are made storied creatures. We are bound by a story; we are anchored in a narrative. This world in which we live and more and have our being is God’s world, and God has given this world a narrative structure. It’s all one big story. We have to understand the word of God within that story.

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Is the NT Reliable? Part 5: The “Hard” Problem

This entry is part 5 of 5 in the series Is the NT Reliable

Paul’s definition of the Gospel keeps going. Jesus continues to work by appearing to and appointing apostles. These apostles were eyewitness. They had unique authority. They are empowered to exercise that authority by the Holy Spirit. And at least part of what that authority entails is testimony.

The NT is that testimony. It is the apostolic deposit, the word-work of the eyewitnesses, the tradition that Paul and Peter and John entrusted to the church, the confession upon which the church is to stand and hold fast.

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Is the NT Reliable? Part 4: Historiography

This entry is part 4 of 5 in the series Is the NT Reliable

For Christians, theology and history are inextricably linked. Our theology and our way of life is described precisely in terms of what happened.

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Is the NT Reliable? Part 3: Theology

This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series Is the NT Reliable

The church speaks as one: we are Judean and Greek, we are one body, we will affirm one another’s expression of our common faith in Jesus the Christ. Amidst the diversity of Christian expression–some Christians live like Judeans and are zealous for the law of Moses (Acts 21), and some live like Gentiles (and yet have forsaken the ways of their forefathers, 1 Pet. 1:18)–amidst the diversity there is, nevertheless, a common core: Christ is Lord.

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Is the NT Reliable? Part 2: The Text of the New Testament

This entry is part 2 of 5 in the series Is the NT Reliable

It never claims to be a cohesive and singular work; on the contrary, the NT writers everywhere acknowledge that they are individual representatives of a larger body. They are “eyewitnesses,” and let me put the emphasis on the plural there. The whole point of Christianity is that it does not stem from the testimony of one man, but rather a plurality of women and men united only by the compelling evidence of what they saw.

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Is the NT Reliable? Part 1: Reliable for What?

This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series Is the NT Reliable

When we say that someone is reliable, that a newspaper is reliable, that an instructional video on YouTube is reliable, a comedian is reliable, we mean that they are generally trustworthy in a manner appropriate to the relationship that we sustain to that person or thing. Our friend is on time and engaged, the newspaper is reasonably unbiased and informed, the DIYer is accurate and helpful, the comedian is funny.

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A Brief History of Time (According to 2 Peter)

Maybe the laws of physics have remained constant (but maybe not?), but at the vary least God’s way of relating to the world and his people (which we sometimes call a “covenant”) changes as we move from one age to the next. So the two ages are different, and that difference is a sign to the scoffers and to the church that God is at work and will bring about his purposes and promises.

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Cognitive Metaphor Theory is True, but is it Useful?

To be more specific: in this presentation I will argue that CMT does provide an efficient and non-redundant tool set for exegetical analysis of figurative language in Scripture. It does this in at least three areas. (1) Linguistically and anthropologically, it highlights structural patterns of human thinking and communication that establish continuity and connection between modern and ancient audiences. (2) Historically, it encourages the exegete to study and personalize the particular kinds of experiences that would have structured the original author’s conceptual world and how those experiences inform the metaphorical association under scrutiny. (3) Pastorally, it opens up opportunities to explore other possible metaphorical associations consistent with, but not explicitly affirmed by, the original author.

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Confessionalism Promotes Academic Integrity

Doesn’t being “confessional” mean that certain kinds of questions are, by definition, verboten? Wouldn’t that in turn mean that academics in those institutions have to sacrifice the “science” of biblical and theological study upon the altar of confessional consistency? Not at all. I believe the opposite is the case.

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Is being biblical and confessional an academic liability?

We are confessional, which means we stand in the great tradition and ask “what’s next.” And we are Biblical, which means that when we ask that question we turn to the Word of Christ, working through the Spirit, and find it both fit and suitable for the building up of the church, for the race that we are called to run.