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Shared with Permission from Criswell Theological Review Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible’s Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture. By Christopher Watkin. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2022, 648 pp., $39.99, Hardcover In Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible’s Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life...
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July 10, 2024 Andrew Sargent
Reviews, Theology
I’ve found myself in a bit of a quandary when trying to help other believers see Genesis the way that I have come to see it after years of studying culturally relevant Ancient Near Eastern creation and flood stories, culminating in my Doctoral Dissertation on the subject. You see,...
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July 2, 2024 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Old Testament Studies
I recently saw a picture of young woman from India holding up a sign that read “Don’t ask your daughters not to go out, Ask your SONS to BEHAVE.” (sic) I am well aware of the plight of women in the cultures of India. I have been traveling...
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April 4, 2023 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Theology, Society
The tassel attached to the Hebrew male’s outer garment is a wonderful example of artifact communication in the Bible. That is, the tassel is an item used in Israel to communicate a particular meaning within that culture… one which is foreign and, thus, unintelligible to most of the...
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March 1, 2023 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Communication, Old Testament Studies, Theology
In our last two posts on the incident at Nain, we discussed the importance of geographical study as something deeper than map investigations, and the importance of typology for an author’s theological goals, bringing meaning to his subject by portraying it in the contours and colors of meaningful...
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July 4, 2022 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, New Testament Studies, NT's Use of the OT
No matter what you think I’m saying at any given point in this article. Please read to the very end. Wisdom dialogue takes time and makes turns in the hope of being thorough and fair. Lewis & Tash C. S. Lewis’s final Chronicles of Narnia book, The Last...
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May 16, 2022 Andrew Sargent
Contexualization, Question Posts, Theology, Worship
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December 9, 2021 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Biblical Studies, Contexualization, Old Testament Studies
John 8:7 is especially popular with non-Christians who resent any suggestion within Christianity that they are sinners in need of salvation. It is usually paraphrased, “He who is without sin, cast the first stone.”[1] Sounds good doesn’t it?— Don’t judge me! John 8:7 is a “Get-out-of-Jail-free card” for...
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October 8, 2019 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, New Testament Studies, NT's Use of the OT, Old Testament Studies
There was once a man with a great prayer life and a bothersome cat. Wishing to be left alone while he prayed, he leashed the cat to the post of his bed where it couldn’t reach him. That man had a daughter who wanted a great prayer...
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October 6, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Theology, Old Testament Studies
If one reads the prophets, he or she will notice rather quickly that one of the great themes of the prophets is a call for justice in society. The wealthy and powerful have a way of getting what they want in life and protecting what they get. Those...
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October 4, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Theology, Old Testament Studies
This is another one of my audience-less lectures. Tame, steady, devoid of my shrieking “pay attention! This is important” moments. I discuss the vital role that all three major methods of theological thought have in establishing a healthy church. While I love systematic theology and consider it a...
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September 28, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Theology, Contexualization, Systematic & Historical Theology, Theology
As a constant advocate for Biblical Theology, some imagine that I want Biblical Theology instead of Systematic Theology. I don’t. Systematic Theology does not hold as much interest for me as for others who are more naturally inclined to that type of theological conversation, but Systematic Theology is...
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September 26, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Theology, Theology
One of the transforming insights I’ve gained over the last few years regards the blindness, deafness, insensibility of the human heart. I sit stupefied at the depth of human evil in many who are so untouched by divine light as to perpetrate and defend the vilest acts against...
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April 30, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Communication, Contexualization, Society, Theology
Some have suggested that the “OF” case in Mark 1:1 in the phrase “Gospel of Jesus” is objective… meaning that Jesus is the gospel and not merely the preacher of a Gospel, though Mark 1:14-15 will show that he does preach a gospel as well. Here, in Mark...
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April 25, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Meeting the Jesus of Mark, New Testament Studies
Even a brief scan of 1 Samuel 15 should be enough to perplex the average reader. Here YHWH commands Samuel to command Saul to utterly destroy a people called the Amalekites. (Sounds like a somewhat bloodier version of most homes… “Sally, tell Tommy to tell Alice to clean...
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April 23, 2019 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies, Text Criticism Issues
In our last episode, we introduced the bare bones essence of water baptism as an ancient covenant ratification act saturated with typical death imagery and corresponding OT interests in ordeal (the divinely ordained safe passage through the maws of death, representing divine election and/or divine decrees of innocence). ...
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April 18, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Intertestamental History & Literature, Meeting the Jesus of Mark, New Testament Studies, NT's Use of the OT
So you read the whole Old Testament. You read it several times. Having immersed yourself in the literature that your Bible, by its basic structure, seems to promise as the precursor to the rest, you finally turn to the New Testament. This is how it always goes isn’t...
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April 16, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Meeting the Jesus of Mark, New Testament Studies, NT's Use of the OT, Old Testament Studies
One of the benefits of a being raised in a blue collar environment and receiving academic training is that I tend to experience the full force of learning. This means that no matter how much I succeeded in my education, writing and research, I labored hard for it…...
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April 12, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Inductive Study Methods
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The resurrection of Jesus is not just one grand miracle amid a ministry filled with grand miracles. It stands alone among all the works of Jesus for the magnitude of its significance in the lives of the followers of Jesus, the Christ. It is a unique event not...
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April 10, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Theology, New Testament Studies, Theology
Today we have a guest post from Darrel Cox, Ph.D. Professor of Biblical Studies at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, VA. He has a Ph.D. in Theological Studies from Trinity International University, an M.A. in Christian Doctrine & History & an M.A. in Public Policy from Regent University and...
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May 23, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Society, Systematic & Historical Theology
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