For quite some time I have been observing a movement in evangelical Christianity that calls everything under the sun, besides the worship of God, idolatry. If the Trinitarian God of the Scriptures is not receiving glory, then idolatry is being committed. A verse such as 1 Corinthians 10:31 is a good example, “Whether you eat, drink, or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.” We’re often told, in light of this verse that when we eat, drink, or do anything not to the glory of God, we are committing idolatry. But is this biblical? Is all sin idolatry? If so, how can the following verse make any sense whatsoever? Read more... (1117 words, estimated 4:28 mins reading time)
My buddy Tanner and I made this picture film in our first semester of seminary. We also had a website named www.tannerandandy.com. One of the funnier “did-you-know” parts of the site was that www.andyandtanner.com was a website for a homosexual couple who was getting married. I hope no one went there instead of our site and thought it was us – yikes!
In any case, if you’ve ever lost a cell phone, or spent 3 months starting at a seminary and did not hang out with any girls outside of church, then you might appreciate this work of art. 
Read more... (119 words, estimated 29 secs reading time)
I just visited the local Barnes and Noble to do some reading and was perusing the “Christianity” section when I noticed Brian McClaren’s new book. I had heard some fairly negative things about it, and from earlier reads of McClaren books I assumed, at the outset, that they were probably right. But, being the reader that I am, I decided to flip through it. As I did, I became rather intrigued with his first chapter. And, I will say, agreed in large part with much of what he said in that chapter. Essentially, McClaren argued that the typical understanding of the Bible’s grand narrative is corrupted by a Greco-Roman mindset. For him, looking at Jesus through the eyes of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, or Isaiah is different than looking at Jesus through the eyes of Augustine, Jerome, Calvin, or Luther. He argues that looking back at Jesus through Greco-Roman eyes leads to a different understanding of the Bible’s grand narrative than looking forward at it from Hebrew eyes. Generally, over the past several years studying Hebrew and the Hebrew Bible in-depth, I myself have begun to understand concepts such as righteousness and election in a more Hebrew mindset than the typical Roman mindset taught to us by many NT professors and pastors. Read more... (823 words, estimated 3:18 mins reading time)
On Friday (3.19) I accepted my offer of admission to the ThD degree at Wycliffe College of the Toronto School of Theology. I’m very excited about starting there in September, and look forward to interacting with some of their distinguished faculty, including Christopher Seitz, Ephraim Radner, Glen Taylor, Joseph Mangina, and Terence Donaldson. Now, I just need to crush some theological German reading. Ah!
Andy
At the SBL conference last week one of the plenary speakers presented a paper on the dangers of pseudo-historicism in academia. In attempting to provide a “proper historical context” for various biblical passages, he argued that many in his field do not practice sound historical methods. There was much merit in his comments, and many in the evangelical community would have done well to listen to what he had to say. Yet, while I wholeheartedly agree that sound practices and methods must be used in seeking a historical context, sometimes (read: nearly all the time) that context either obscures or disintegrates what valuable work the final editor of a biblical book had done. In other words, we must view the work of the final author of a book as a historical event in making a text. The final book transcends what may have been a prehistory for a text. It is one thing to use linguistic evidence to date a book of the bible (or a passage) to a certain time period, and it is yet another thing to use that for interpretation of the text in its final form. Read more... (337 words, estimated 1:21 mins reading time)
On Friday afternoon I will be reading a paper I wrote about Psalm 102 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional SBL conference in New Brunswick, NJ. I will not know anyone there, so hopefully I will be able to meet some OT guys. I’ve put my paper online, so if you want access go here. If you do read it I would appreciate some feedback via comments. When I get back I’ll write out how it all went.
Andy
This week’s study focused on how to read biblical prophecy:
- How do we get from the prophet’s original sermon to the book of the prophet’s sermons? And, what are the implications?
- What are some foundations for reading the Bible?
- What are some questions we can ask as we read a Bible passage?
Read more... (276 words, estimated 1:06 mins reading time)
This week’s study focused in on introducing to biblical prophecy:
- What is prophecy?
- Who are the prophets?
- What did they prophesy about?
- Do we need to adjust our views of the Old Testament to better understand prophecy?
It was a great study to put together and really helped focus me in again on what to expect over the next ten weeks. A few ideas struck me as I prepared the lesson, and would like to share them with you. Read more... (693 words, estimated 2:46 mins reading time)
I’m pleased and honored to be able to teach a ten-week class on the Book of Isaiah on Wednesday nights at Peters Creek Baptist Church, from 6:30-7:30. We’re going to spend a few weeks introducing the idea of biblical prophecy and how to read it, followed by a big picture overview of what the book of Isaiah is about. I’m going to be posting audio of the lessons, along with class notes, slides, and visual aids, for those of you interested. Click on the “Book of Isaiah” link above, or here to be taken to the page. If you have any questions or comments please post them on that page. The class begins tomorrow, 2/24.
In recent weeks I’ve been spending a good deal of my free time reading the book of Isaiah and some of its commentaries. It has been quite an illuminating experience, and looking at the book as a whole has made it somewhat less daunting than I’d always imagined it. Today I noticed a connection that I thought was quite interesting that I’d like to share with you.
In the Gospel of Luke there is a scene where Jesus opens up the scroll of Isaiah and tells those in the synagogue that the Scripture he read was being fulfilled in their midst. What he read was from Isaiah 61.1-3, Read more... (851 words, estimated 3:24 mins reading time)
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