Last Sunday, we talked about the prophet, Jeremiah, and the circumstances under which the book that bears his name was produced. I read a lot of history, which means that my mind was packed with a lot of details, which rarely serves me well. I got into the weeds a bit, so let me see if I can narrow this …
Belief and Judgment
Last Sunday’s conversation was wide-ranging, befitting a couple of scripture passages (Ephesians 2.1-10; John 3.14-21) that are rich in meaning. Most of our dialog focused on John as it contains what is probably the most memorized verse of scripture in the Christian faith, 3.16. As I still remember it from my childhood: “For God so loved the world that He …
The Conversion of Paul
Last week we talked about the Apostle Paul. It is hard to read Paul with fresh eyes, without the jaundice of Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and the Enlightenment. Through those interpreters, Paul has become more rigid, shriller, and more pedantic. It is hard to unhear all of those voices, so I have to reconstruct my apparatus for reading Paul every time …
Taking Up the Cross
Sorry about the cold last Sunday. Still learning about the building’s reaction to crazy Texas weather. So our conversation was brief, but good. I shared a little (maybe a lot) about the context of Romans. Paul is often read through the eyes of previous interpreters and, in our contemporary context, Romans is often the source of our ideas about what …