Author Archives
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The Earliest Church Fathers on Election and Predestination (Part Two: Apostolic Fathers)
Christians have long wrestled with the subject of how God’s plans and actions in salvation interact with human responsibility and choice. And it is common for proponents of any theological system to appeal to the writings of theologians from the… Read More ›
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The Earliest Church Fathers’ Views on Election and Predestination (Part One: Clement of Rome)
One topic that’s of perennial interest to Christians is the question of how God’s role in saving people intersects with human choice. How does God’s sovereignty (or, more accurately, his providence) relate to human responsibility? The question arises because the… Read More ›
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On the Supposed “Plain Meaning” of Scripture
I just picked up Christopher Bryan’s little book And God Spoke: The Authority of the Bible for the Church Today (Cowley, 2002), and in it he offers this excellent nugget of wisdom that I think many in the church need… Read More ›
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Book Review: The Resurrection of the Messiah, by Christopher Bryan
The Resurrection of the Messiah is the rare kind of book that hits all the right notes. Masterfully nuanced and abreast of all the critical scholarship, while also eminently readable and chock-full of deep insights. It’s a tragedy this book isn’t more well-known.
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The Apocryphal Book of Sirach and its Influence on Early Christianity
One of the apocryphal books I think is particularly interesting is the book called “The Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sirach.” It has also gone by a couple of other names, such as simply Sirach, Ben Sira, or Ecclesiasticus. It is… Read More ›
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The Apocrypha in a Nutshell
Recently I’ve been working my way through the Apocrypha. If you aren’t familiar with these, they are a collection of Jewish writings composed during the time between the Old and New Testaments (400 BC to the first century AD). The… Read More ›
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The Bible’s Purpose, According to the Bible
Does the Bible come with a thesis statement? Turns out it has several. Here’s what we can learn from examining them all.
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What Was the Bible Designed to Do?
We are exploring two related questions: what is the Bible, and what is it for? In my previous post (which you’ll want to read before continuing, if you missed it), I suggested that two common answers fall short of the… Read More ›
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What IS the Bible? How We Answer Affects Everything
This past Sunday I had the pleasure of teaching a session at our church on the purpose and authority of Scripture. It is amazing to me to see the myriad ways in which people approach the questions of “What is… Read More ›
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Letting the Gospel Shape Our Year
In many branches of the Christian tradition, including the one I’m a part of, we follow what’s known as a liturgical calendar. This is a rhythm of seasons throughout the year in which various elements of the Christian faith are… Read More ›
