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Archive by category Theology (Page 3)
One of the great things about learning Hebrew is the ability to share in the feel of the stories beyond raw content. Good writing uses language as more than just a mechanism for passing data; it communicates with a measure of art, and, at times, music, working rhyme,[1]...
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December 1, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Inductive Study Methods, Theology
I am not insensible to the rage many women feel over the modern misconception that the plight of women in the world is almost solely the result of a grand conspiracy by men to hold women down. Abuse of power, wherever it is found, against whomever it is...
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November 29, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Theology, Intertestamental History & Literature, Society, Theology
Doing biblical theology requires one to lay aside even precious biases in order to hear the message of Scripture speaking from foreign lands in foreign tongues out of foreign cultures. The Phenomenological method, so vital to biblical theology, demands that we listen to each text as believers wholly...
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August 9, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Theology
One of the advantages, or disadvantages as the case may be, of being a biblical theologian, in which my phenomenological (i.e. believer’s) approach to the text within a historical grammatical and literary context through inductive method holds sway, is that I am excused within my heart from having...
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August 4, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Old Testament Studies, Theology
To those who mainly regard the Bible as a source for answering their every question about God and the world, biblical theologians can be a real pill, and biblical theology can feel more than a little threatening… I get that. We are, however, worth getting to know. Thus,...
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July 26, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies, Theology
Mat 18:19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. 20 “For where two or three are gathered together in my...
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July 19, 2017 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, New Testament Studies
Well, now I’ve done it. I’ve brought up right brained and left brained in a public setting. I’m sure I’ll hear about it from critics. So, let me ward off some of the flack by confessing from the get-go: [Disclaimer: I am not a medical doctor, nor a...
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July 10, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Old Testament Studies, Theology
When reading biblical poetry, one must learn to connect with the poem on more than one level. While it is important to carefully define the Hebrew words being employed in any passage, and to track a poem’s use of parallelism and word pairs, and to follow the overall...
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June 28, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies
When I passed inspection for receiving my ministerial license, the individual responsible for my review spread out, like a row of piano keys, the many pages of answers I gave to the theological questions I was asked to address in the process. He ummm-ed a bit, scratched his...
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June 21, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Theology, Theology
If I had to describe my rather short life on social media, I would depict the bulk of it as “THE MEME WARS.” Since you are reading this online, I doubt I have to explain to you that memes are those pictures that people post with snappy little...
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June 14, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Communication, Ethics, Society, Theology
No Comment
Ruth is one of my favorite books, but I have a serious problem with it. The problem is the name. Now, I know that the Jews also called the book “Ruth” and that I should respect that, but honestly I just can’t bring myself to do it. The...
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June 9, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Theology, Old Testament Studies
In a day when the worst sin a person can commit personally is to “make someone else feel bad,” Gospel preaching has taken a bit of a hit. We want to preach good news… which is what gospel means, but we seem to imagine that good news is...
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May 10, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Theology
No Comment
In this edited sermon, I address the common misinterpretation of the line in Isaiah 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish. First people fail to quote the whole proverb. It goes, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy...
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April 17, 2017 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies
This is the heavily edited 6th narrative sermon in the Gospel of Mark. Here Mark uses a repeating story structure to portray Jesus as a deified man who overcomes the impossible in bigger than life miracles after the experts of the day have done all that the...
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April 12, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Meeting the Jesus of Mark, New Testament Studies, NT's Use of the OT
This is a highly edited sermon on the 5th narrative sermon of the Gospel of Mark. In it I address Mark’s depiction of Jesus’ parable telling. It is the first record of Jesus’ actual teaching since the short snippet recorded in chapter one concerning the time of...
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April 5, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Meeting the Jesus of Mark, New Testament Studies
This is the first of a series of sermons drawn from a course I teach on inductive study that I call, MEETING THE JESUS OF MARK. I introduce the idea of interpreting gospel stories in terms of how the authors have woven various stories into narrative sermon...
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April 3, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Theology, Meeting the Jesus of Mark, New Testament Studies, NT's Use of the OT
Two realities confront us a Christians. The first is that, as loving members of our own communities, it is unthinkable that we do not do all that is in our power to secure the safety and prosperity general of that community. We are to pray for and participate...
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March 22, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Ethics, Society, Theology
Consequences, pain, suffering and loss are unwelcomed gifts from a loving creator to wayward creatures. Only discomfiture of one kind or another drives change. Only a sense of dissatisfaction with the world causes one to look up from his or her preoccupation with it, to consider what lies...
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March 17, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Theology, Worship
I’ve had some interesting discussions this week about various churches’ perception of “Spirituality, Love & Humility,” My ministry is non-denominational and I travel around a bit so I encounter all kinds of interesting perceptions of these matters. In the movie Joyful Noise the choir director struggles with her...
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March 17, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Society, Theology
When I was a child, I spent a lot of time irritating my teachers. I had the tendency to say, “What does that mean?” and “What am I supposed to do with that?” or “Why does this matter?” I was more practical back then than I am now...
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February 27, 2017 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Theology, Society
