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Posts Tagged: biblical studies
November 30, 2009
Do the Evolution
Jesus May Be the Answer, But What Is The Question?
If you want to trace Jesus of Nazareth’s slow transformation from a universally relevant social, political, and religious activist/reformer to a historically and culturally relative and somewhat irrelevant Sunday “god,” look in the New Testament itself. Read more…
October 25, 2009
Homosexuality and the Bible
Is Homosexuality Really Condemned by the Bible?
“There is not a sexual ethic to be found anywhere in this Bible,” proclaimed the confident professor from the front of his seminary classroom. “If you can find such an ethic between the covers of this book,” he continued, while defiantly waving his own Bible in the air, “Then come up here and show me for goodness sake so we can all see it and then apply it to our lives right now and start living it.” More than a few of his students were visibly perplexed; some grumbled and booed in disagreement; others were applauding the professor wildly; many more were honestly peaked in interest and sat on the edge of their seats clearly wanting to hear more. It was a bold and confident statement, for sure. It may have been more than a little cocky too. No. It was cocky. It was also entirely accurate. There is not a sexual ethic in the Bible, not one that we can completely apply and live in our own day. Sorry, everyone. It looks like we will have to figure this one out all on our own. No one is going to show us or tell us how to do it. Too bad; that would be so freakin’ easy! Now we will actually have to think and do the hard work of figuring out as best as we can. Damn. Read more…
October 10, 2009
The Historical and Biblical Significance of the Man’s Beard
Beards Required By God?
So, if you have nothing better today on a Saturday afternoon, why not listen to a preacher go on for 72 minutes about the historical and biblical significance of beards. You have wondered, I’m sure, what the Scriptures say about beards, right? Of course you have! Who hasn’t!
This preacher sees the following passage in Leviticus as God’s revelation to all men concerning the beard. Yes, he believes that true biblical thinking would result in all men – and especially pastors – growing beards. Said differently, God commands that all righteous men grow beards. Read more…
June 25, 2009
A Division in Biblical Studies
Interpretive Smackdown: Historical-Critical vs. Literary-Critical
A fascinating article concerning the contentious gulf separating Historical-Critical and Postmodern interpretations of the Bible appears in the Summer 2009 edition of Journal of Biblical Literature (JBL). It seems that, according to the article, the Biblical Studies department is divided on interpretive issues. On one hand, we have those who would advance the modern idea of one ultimate or final reading of the text(s) that is discovered via the interpretive paradigm aka the Historical-Critical approach (source criticism, form criticism, grammatical studies and archaeology); on the other hand we have the postmodern interpretive venture – or literary-critical method – that suggests an availability of several divergent but equally plausible readings that are produced by a variety of experiences, voices and, more importantly, the metanarrative void (Postcolonial Readings, Feminist Readings, Marxist Readings, Black (African-American) Readings, Hermeneutic of Suspicion, Rhetorical Criticism, Stylistic Criticism, Metaphorical Criticism, Post-structuralism, and Myth Theory, to name just a few). Read more…
April 25, 2009
A Lesson in Economics From Acts
Individuals contemplating a communal lifestyle patterned after the second and fourth chapters of Acts should proceed with much deliberation and serious caution. Why so? Well, simply put, the communal pattern illustrated in Acts failed miserably and all who participated had to be economically supported by other churches later, according to various New Testament letters. These other churches weren’t erected according to the same communal template as embraced by the Jerusalem church, at least if the silence of actually doing so within the text(s) is any indication. No, the only church in the New Testament requiring welfare support was the church populated by folks who “…sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need” (Acts 2.45); and “…sold their land and houses and laid the proceeds at the apostles feet” (Acts 4.34-35). Read more…
February 17, 2009
5 Gospel Word Frequency Clouds
The word clouds displayed below give prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. The source texts in this case happen to be the four canonical gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and the Gospel of Thomas. The more frequent a word appears in the source text, the bigger the font. In other words, the more times a word appears in the gospel text the larger it appears in the word frequency cloud. Read more…
January 26, 2009
Requirements of Covenant Membership
The central functions of the church, according to the Brethren in Christ Manual of Doctrine and Government, are worship, fellowship, discipleship, and mission. Believers, as covenanted members of this sacred community, join one another in effort to accomplish and participate in God’s recreation project on earth – which takes place in gathered community (aka “church”), and is most clearly measurable in the success/failure of the aforementioned functions. A healthy church is characterized by healthy worship, healthy fellowship, healthy discipleship, and healthy mission. None of these things can be realized without a healthy covenant agreement between all who would be involved. Read more…
A Final Fulfillment: On Eschatology
Precarious – as in “precarious” generalizations – is the word that immediately comes to mind when discussions concerning eschatology arise. Why? Well, simply put, we know so very little about the subject. Our lack of pertinent knowledge begs the question: How in the world could we craft so many overly-complicated end times scenarios and apocalyptic schemes with so little understanding? It seems we humans are quite crafty. We can run with things that aren’t there, and we can run well! This is, however, more than slightly dangerous and distracting. Read more…