Blog
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What The Non-Believing Kids Are Writing
Jeremy Witteveen, the Head Chef over at Le Café Witteveen, offers a few choice words in his post “What the believing kids are writing” in response to my post “I Do Not Permit A Woman.” So, to be equitable, I have a few responses of my own.
Regarding 1 Timothy 2.12, Witteveen says “You know, one of those verses that renders the concept of belief a bit silly, reckless and short-sighted.” How on earth can a single statement in a nineteen hundred year old letter have such drastic epistemological consequences? That verse alone renders the entire “concept of belief” silly? Really? (more…)
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Universal Calvin
One of the main objections to Calvinism is that it casts God as a cruel monster who creates people in order to arbitrarily condemn many of them to hell. While I think that understanding is a distortion of Calvinist theology, it nevertheless contains a grain of truth and poses a seeming problem to the omnibenevolence of God.But is Calvinism necessarily incompatible with an infinitely good God? Not if universalism is true! (more…)
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Giotto vs. Masaccio: Renaissance Smackdown
Giotto (1266 – 1337) laid the foundations of Renaissance painting, establishing precedents that filtered down through Renaissance art and found development and expansion in the work of Masaccio (1401 – 1428). Both Giotto and Masaccio were true giants of the Renaissance — and therefore stand at the forefront of all artistic expression; both masterfully depicted scenes of deep emotion and lasting impact. To our modern eye, Masaccio’s work may seem more “advanced” and thus “better,” but it is Giotto who often touches the soul in a way characteristic of truly great art.
Comparing their work affords a valuable glimpse not only into the world of Renaissance art, but also into the roots of artistic sensibilities that persist to this day. Their approaches to narrative depiction touch on universal issues of aesthetic understanding and highlight the tension inherent in trying to depict the transcendent.
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I Do Not Permit A Woman
In 1 Timothy 2.12 Paul says “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.” (NIV2011)
What’s up with that? Is Paul really issuing a definitive command regarding women’s roles that’s binding upon all Christians today? Is this a clear directive that severely limits women’s ministry in the Church? That’s certainly how most complementarians understand this verse. But is that where the discussion ends? Paul said it, I believe it, that settles it? (more…)
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Junia the Apostle
Any discussion of women’s roles in the church must take into account the apostle Junia. Paul writes in Romans 16.7, “Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was” (NIV2011). Though generally accepted as a female apostle throughout church history, Junia has fallen on hard times since the Reformation: her gender has been changed (to the male Junias in the NASB, NIV1984, RSV, UBS4 and NA27) and more recently her apostleship has been questioned. (more…) -
Review: Existence by David Brin
David Brin’s novel Existence is set in an alarmingly plausible near future: a post-climate-catastrophe and post-nuclear-disaster world of artificial intelligence, augmented reality and ubiquitous inter-connectivity that is but a short imaginative leap from our present state.With this backdrop, Brin introduces us to a bevy of characters and sets up several narrative threads that, to varying degrees, run through the entire book: a reporter stumbles on a plot to use zeppelins as bombs, a writer is enlisted to investigate the poisoning of a Senator, an extreme sports junky finds himself stranded at sea and, most significantly, an astronaut discovers a mysterious crystal orbiting the earth that might contain intelligent life. (more…)
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It’s All Greek To Me
When I write posts referencing Greek words or when I have discussions about the meanings of words in particular Bible verses, I’m never sure to what extent others are familiar with Koine Greek. Can I write μέτοχος? Should I transliterate it to metochos? Or maybe the answer is that you should learn Greek!Every Christian who is serious about studying the Bible (and that should included every Christian) should have at least a basic familiarity with biblical Greek. That means knowing the Greek alphabet, being able to read and pronounce Greek words and having a basic understanding of how the language works. Mastering these rudiments will open up vast resources for furthering your Biblical knowledge. (more…)
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Partakers of the Holy Spirit
“For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, become partakers of the Holy Spirit, tasted the good word of God and the miracles of the coming age, and then have committed apostasy, to renew them again to repentance, since they are crucifying the Son of God for themselves all over again and holding him up to contempt.” (Heb 6:4–6 NET)This passages is a rich source for theological controversy and exegetical exploration, but I’m going to focus on only one word from verse four: partakers, or in Greek, μέτοχος. One tiny piece of the puzzle in regards to this passage is whether “partakers of the Holy Spirit” is describing a saved, regenerate person, or whether it could be describing a non-Christian who is merely the recipient of some benefits associated with the Holy Spirit. (more…)
