Scholars and theologians have wrestled with the meaning of the millennium for centuries. Is there a neglected key to its significance in the book of Revelation itself? The present paper proposes that Jesus’ message to the seven churches provides a controlling hermeneutic for the rest of the book. Each letter links the hearer thematically with … Read more
In Exodus 32:25–29, the tribe of Levi rallies to Moses’s cry to kill their fellow Israelites to purge the camp of the idolatrous worship in which the people were engaged. The violence of the Levites is praised in Exod 32:29 and becomes the basis for the Levites’ special service before God as priests in Israel. … Read more
Redeemed man is unarguably simul iustus et peccator in general (simultaneously justified and sinful), but not in the sense of Luther’s commentary on Romans 7:25. Perhaps simul iustus et gemens (simultaneously justified and groaning) per Romans 8:23 comports better with a new creation anthropology (Jer 31:31-34, Ezek 36:22-27) and leads to stronger assurance, better shepherding, … Read more
Attempts to understand the purpose of the Gospel according to John almost always and inevitably focus on John 20:30–31. This so-called true ending is an explicit purpose statement. The goal of this presentation, however, is not to recount how the scholars have spoken of purpose and John in former times up to the present, but … Read more
According to one award-winning biography, Sam Houston remains the singular figure “standing like a colossus astride the middle decades of the 1800s.” Remembered by Texans for his leadership during the war for independence, he was also a man with complex and developing understandings of Christianity and religious devotion. He carried misunderstandings of Christian theology and … Read more
Co-authored: Epic stories like The Odyssey, the Aeneid, or more recently The Lord of the Rings are universally accepted and beloved stories. But beyond mere entertainment, these fictional accounts engage humanity at deep formative levels, especially utilizing the genre of myth to interact with and promote metaphysical and ethical realities deemed key to human existence. … Read more
Preaching, as a communication event, includes the management of at least three important elements: source characteristics, message effects, and respondent concerns (see the seminal work of Carl I. Hovland, Irving L. Janis, and Harold H. Kelley, Communication and Persuasion, Yale University Press, 1953). This is already a complicated and formidable prospect even among homogeneous audiences. … Read more
As James Barr aptly demonstrated almost fifty years ago, a binary between literal and free is not a helpful lens through which to view Septuagint Translation Technique since a translation can be both literal and free at the same time, but in different ways (James Barr, The Typology of Literalism in Ancient Biblical Translations, MSU … Read more
I am arguing in this paper for the historically-rooted designator “pastor-theologian” to be used in examining the life and ministry of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and, by implication, a useful framework for modern pastoral identity construction. Precisely stated, a pastor-theologian is a biblically-educated, theologically-grounded intellectual who makes disciples in and through the local church by the … Read more
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many churches struggled to take the Lord’s Supper together, especially when members were viewing the service via live stream video. Christian leaders debated whether a “virtual” Lord’s Supper was possible, and, if so, how it should be administered. The situation resulted in some Christians not partaking in this important ordinance for … Read more