Christians Hope in the Face of Death
Today we have a guest blogger. Amy Roberts Kinder has Master of Arts in Biblical Studies with a concentration in the Old Testament from Ashland Theological Seminary, and is a…
So You’ve Accepted Jesus
If you recently responded to an invitation to “accept Jesus as your savior,” and someone handed this devotional to you, let me be the first author to welcome you to…
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
What the Woman Caught in Adultery Shouldn’t Teach Us: Law, Grace & Bad Hermeneutics
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,…
Depends What the Meaning of “OF” Is
Grammar stinks…. just kidding; I love grammar, but I’m hoping that by pretending not to that you will suck it up and actually read all the way to the bottom…
Bible Backgrounds
Biblical Language Issues
Biblical Studies
Biblical Theology
HAGALAH
Inductive Study Methods
Meeting the Jesus of Mark
New Testament Studies
Jesus as Gospel: Is there Emperor Typology in Mark 1:1?
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…
Keep One Eye on the Old Testament: Mark 1:2-13 & Ancient Reference
“I’m a New Testament Christian!” A common boast by those little interested in the Old Testament… I mean… Doesn’t that just sound defunct… OLD… Good old things get the label…
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
A Baptism in Confusion: 3 Baptisms in Mark 1:2-13
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…
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
A Baptism in Baptism
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…
Historical History & the Little Scholar Who Could
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…
101 Most Misunderstood Verses
Bible Backgrounds
Biblical Studies
HAGALAH
Inductive Study Methods
NT's Use of the OT
Old Testament Studies
So, a Donkey and an Ox Wander into a Parallel: Exodus 23:3-6
To the Hebrews context mattered a good deal. Our own struggles to understand the use to which some New Testament writers put certain Old Testament texts may make us doubt…
Bible Backgrounds
Biblical Language Issues
Biblical Studies
Inductive Study Methods
Meeting the Jesus of Mark
New Testament Studies
NT's Use of the OT
Technical Terms We Only Think We Understand: Gospel in Mark 1:1
There are many bingo phrases that Christian’s throw around at church that I am convinced they barely understand. If you ask them what their favorite terms mean, you will, more…
Could Someone Please Define Racist for Me?
Let me say for starters that I don’t watch Duck Dynasty, don’t agree or disagree with anything about their statements for absolute sure (having no real context for it) save…
Hey Millennials! Hollywood is a Bunch of Big Fat Liars!
In my post, “Confessions of a Troglodyte,” I attempted to share my frustrations as a biblical scholar trying to teach or dialogue with those who are quintessential Millennials, those who…
Is Prejudice Wrong?
I remember a heated discussion I had in the 90’s with an African American friend of mine over race, culture and prejudice. I often contended genetic innocence for American slavery…
Have You Trip-wired Your Mind?
It seems to me that a phenomena I have been witnessing for years in ever increasing regularity goes well beyond prejudice right into manic meltdown. All that is needed to…
Government Entitlement Programs are Psychologically Dysfunctional
In an earlier post, “Progressives Don’t Want to Help the Poor to escape Poverty—Entitlement Programs aren’t Charity or Charitable ” I began a discussion on the misguided equalizing of Biblical…
Progressives Don’t Want to Help the Poor to escape Poverty—Entitlement Programs aren’t Charity or Charitable
One of the frustrations I face as a biblical theologian is the confusion that biblical laws regarding the poor cause Christians who cannot tell the difference between charity and entitlement…
Confessions of a Troglodyte
I regard myself, perhaps wrongly, as a decent communicator, even if a bit snarky at times. I’ve dedicated most of my ministry energy to explaining complex ideas in biblical studies…
101 Most Misunderstood Verses
Bible Backgrounds
Biblical Language Issues
Biblical Studies
NT's Use of the OT
Old Testament Studies
Hallelujah: Call “of” Praise or Call “to” Praise
After discussing, in my recent blog post, “Hallelujah is a Sentence,” that the biblical “term” Hallelujah has grammar and that we should both be aware of that grammar and use…
What I Mean by Biblical Theology
How hard could it possibly be to find agreement on the meaning of a phrase as simple as biblical theology? In truth… harder than I’d like. Biblical theology is not,…