The history of the Bible in Italy is instructive. Early reformists and later protestant reformers exemplify the clash between the reformed view of the sufficiency and clarity of the Bible and the practice of magisterial authority by the institutional church. Where do you stand on this question?
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SS Edmund Fitzgerald and the Love of God
I never tire of listening to Gordon Lightfoot’s song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” I’m hooked from the first strum of the Asus2 chord to the ninth time the haunting guitar riff is played as the song fades out. But for me as a believer in and student of the Bible, the most significant part of the song is the question “Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?”
Why does it matter that the tomb was empty?
All too often churches feature the empty tomb only on Easter Sunday, or only during the Eastertide season until Pentecost. Christians commonly present the gospel as the death of Jesus, omitting his resurrection. This reduced, truncated gospel is not the real, triumphant gospel that we find in the New Testament. Perhaps it is not the gospel at all.
The Cross: For Us, By Us, and In Us
Call it what you like—Passion Week, Holy Week, Greater Week, Holy and Great Week—this is the time of year that reminds Christians of the foundation of their faith. It is observed in different ways by various Christian traditions. In this post I’m not concerned with how churches officially remember Christ’s death and resurrection every year but about how Christians personally resemble it every day. Can I explain?
Reading Mark in Context is a great idea!
After working mainly with Matthew through the years, it was great to participate with 30 scholars in a project on Mark. Ben Blackwell, John Goodrich, and Jason Maston edited this book, which concisely explains Mark by comparing and contrasting it with relevant passages from Jewish literature of the Second Temple period. That’s what reading Mark […]