Book Review – Paul: A Biography By N.T. Wright
430 pages of text. Less than ten citations of contemporary secondary sources. Roughly a dozen extra-biblical ancient source citations. Another dozen intertestamental/apocryphal citations. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of scripture citations. All of that to say Wright’s book, “Paul: A biography” is scholarly but not written in direct conversation with various theories of what is […]
Book Review: “Paul – An Apostle’s Journey” By Douglas A. Campbell
A few weeks ago a friend recommended I read Douglas Campbell’s work on Paul. Since that time I have worked my way through his book “Paul – An Apostle’s Journey” and want to share some insights on the book, Campbell’s views, and the positives and negatives of the book as a whole. The first thing […]
Ironing Out Our Conflicting Message on the Usefulness of the Old Testament – Part 2
It is important in this conversation that we stick with scripture itself for our guide. In Churches of Christ that is one of our mantras – that we stick by scripture even over tradition. But in the case of how we read and use the Old Testament we skip right past what the New Testament […]
Was Paul the Best, Worst Communicator or is Something Else Going on?
There is a place in Paul’s writing that confused me for the longest time. What is the confusing statement? “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words,” – 1 Corinthians 2:4 When I hear “wise and persuasive” I think of Paul. I think of him first because of his pedigree, “If […]
Brief Review of a Not so Brief Book – Paul and the Faithfulness of God by N.T. Wright
I started this book months ago while on jury duty and finally finished it last week. I have a hard copy but decided to read this via the kindle app on my iphone 4S. That was brutal! I think I would have to read this book several times to really get out of it half […]
Losing & Finding Our Way: Paul points to Jesus
One final post on Paul before we dive into Jesus in order to connect the two. One of our fundamental miscues in the Restoration Movement has been turning to Paul to fine tune how we do church rather than turning to Paul to find Jesus. Paul was certainly interested in church life and worship. He […]
The Power of God’s Possession
One of the things that has been really helpful to me over the last few years has been the little word “of.” When you use that word you are talking about belonging. If something or someone is “of” something or someone…then it belongs to them. That little word of is in the phrase/name “Church of […]
The Three Places Paul Reaches Out to in Athens and What We Can Learn From It
In Acts 17 Paul has gone to Athens to tell people about Jesus. In verse 17 we get this fantastic verse for formulating a good ole 3 point sermon, “So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to […]
If You Want To Understand Church, Start With Jesus
If you want to wrap your mind around church you can’t just stick with Paul, you have to go to Jesus. If you want to wrap your mind around Jesus you can’t just go to the Gospels, you have to go to the Old Testament. The story of Scripture from cover to cover is amazing […]
Exploring the First Century Church: Mission (Part 2)
In spite of the persecution and in spite of their lack of technology…the early church experienced explosive growth. A quick glance at the book of Acts reveals just how much the church was growing in its early years. Acts 2:41 – “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to […]