Something to Cry About

Yesterday, during the Dean's Hour at St. Luke's Cathedral, Kenneth Bailey taught about the woman in the house of Simon. Two works of his that have impacted my studies are Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes and Poet and Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes: A Literary Cultural Approach to the Parables in Luke. The strength of Dr. Bailey's teaching finds expression most notably when he begins walking through a text with his saturated Middle-Eastern mind (he spent forty years teaching in seminaries and institutes in Egypt, Lebnon, Beirut, and Cyprus), filling in all the overlooked blanks that we Westerners typically miss. He reminds me of a New Testament version of Bruce Waltke, whom I had the privilege of sitting under at Reformed Theological Seminary...

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The Best Valentine's Day Card Ever

What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than with baptism? That's what the Donato family did this year with the baptism of Zachary Dylan, our second boy born 30 November 2009. Nor can I think of a better lens through which to view Valentine's Day than the waters of baptism: Along with the Word and the Word made visible in Holy Communion, nothing says "I love you" more than those precious waters. Why not, then, reflect a bit further on this most gracious work of God through Christ by his Spirit, and why not do so through another (though lesser) means of grace—poetry? George Herbert, seventeenth-century Anglican poet, will show us the way: "H. Baptism (I)" As he that sees a dark and shady grove,Stays not, but looks beyond it on the skySo...

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A Lost Material World?

While I'm preparing the last few posts of my walkthrough of John Walton's Lost World of Genesis One, some of you folks might be interested in this exchange between Vern Poythress and Walton (I pointed to Poythress' review back here). The argument, unsuprisingly, focuses on the heart of the matter—Walton's use of the term functional (as opposed to material) origins. First, Poythress reviewed the book in World Then, Walton responded on the BioLogos blog And finally (?), Poythress offered a rejoinder I'll update this post should the discussion contin...

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The Face of God

Lumen ad revelationem gentium, et gloriam plebis tuae Israel. AS THE AUTHOR of 1 John repeatedly remarks, there were certain folks within his community who claimed a secret knowledge, one that set them apart from the rest of the crowd, setting them free from the physical limits of the world, enabling them (so they claimed) to reach new spiritual heights and salvation to the kingdom of light. The elder responded simply: Matter is not evil, for Jesus himself came in the flesh “to be the Savior of the world” (1 Jn 4:14b). Such a grand sweep with respect to God’s redemptive activity did nothing less than undermine the Gnostic elitists’ claim that they alone were of a special elected status. Seeing such love from God, we are to confess that Jesus...

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