For many folks with a little exposure to church history, this is actually old news. Discussions of how to interpret the early chapters of Genesis are as old as Christianity. But since I’ve been reading through the major theologians of… Read More ›
church history
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 ›
What Did Worship Look Like in the Early Church?
In my recent deep-dive back into church history, one of the things I’ve been most interested in is learning more about what early Christian worship looked like. There’s certainly a lot we can learn simply from reading the New Testament…. Read More ›
The Earliest Church Handbook: The Didache
In this new video post, I’m giving a quick introduction to what is likely the oldest church handbook in history, The Didache (aka the “Teaching” or “Instruction”). This short, ancient text gives us a fascinating window into the everyday practices… Read More ›
Getting to Know the Earliest Church Fathers
The history of Christianity is long and complex, but as I’ve written previously, there are a ton of reasons why it’s worth getting to know a little more about. Learning how the earliest Christians understood and lived out their faith… Read More ›
Why Have Women Traditionally Been Excluded from Ministry? And Other Objections to Women in Ministry Answered (Pt. 4)
So far in this series on women in ministry we’ve talked about my journey with the subject and why I interpret 1 Timothy 2:11-15 as not forbidding female pastors. In the last post I addressed some potential objections to women… Read More ›
Women in Ministry, Pt. 3: Addressing Some Biblical Questions
In my previous post I argued that 1 Timothy 2:11-15 (often viewed as the strongest biblical passage against female pastors) is not a universal, absolute prohibition against women having authority in the church. Rather, it was addressing a particular, local situation in Ephesus… Read More ›
What Are Scholars Saying About the Holy Spirit? (Reading Reflections on Thiselton)
I recently finished reading Anthony Thiselton’s book, The Holy Spirit - In Biblical Teaching, through the Centuries, and Today. It was a fun coincidence that I stumbled across this book when I did. My church had just concluded a sermon… Read More ›
Theology Pathfinder 