We teach children the adage, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” to equip them against hateful and harmful things that people say. The saying means to remind people – the adults passing it on and the children learning it – that what people say about us does not necessarily have anything to do with who we actually are. Continue reading Sticks and Stones
Dirt to Dust
Do Unto Others
Read in tandem, Genesis 1 and 2 state perhaps the most fundamental polarity of human existence. Genesis 1 describes God’s creation of humankind in God’s very own “image and likeness.” It is difficult to imagine a more definitive declaration of the dignity and significance of being human. Humans bear God’s image; every human being is like God. Of Continue reading Dirt to Dust
The Syntax of Discipleship
Matt 28:19
The pendulum swings to and fro in the field of (higher, including theological) education from extreme to extreme, returning briefly to the center only to pass through it again. Early in my teaching career, the watchword was “transformational education.” The primary object of education, according to proponents of the philosophy, involves changing Continue reading The Syntax of Discipleship
A Little Leeway
1 Kgs 19:14; Exod 4:1; Acts 5:38-39; Amos 9:7
On a recent rainy weekend following a particularly demanding work for both of us, my wife and I spent a significant portion of Saturday afternoon watching a “Matlock Marathon” on cable TV. I found it amusing that, quite formulaically, the moment came in every episode we saw when Matlock would stop cross-examining the witness (invariably the true Continue reading A Little Leeway
Take Some Time
Jer 28
When my children were still at home, one of them would sometimes find me sitting at my desk apparently doing nothing. Inevitably, he or she would ask what I was up to; invariably I would answer,”Working.” I remember several such encounters very well because the child in question would also, without exception, express disbelief. Continue reading Take Some Time
By our Fruits
Luke 16:19-31
Several years ago now, when I had been teaching undergraduates for a few years, I said something (demonstrably true) in class about the text-critical problems with a particular passage of scripture that caused a minor disturbance among students. It soon reached the ears of the administration. Nothing came of it in the long run, I am happy to say, except for Continue reading By our Fruits
Because he could
Gen 32:28
Translating from one language to another always involves imprecision and a degree of informed speculation. Such is especially the case with dead languages since the translator cannot have access to a native speaker for advice. One passage in Genesis has long intrigued me because the almost universally accepted translation does not seem to fit the Continue reading Because he could
My Confession of Faith
For Now
In a few weeks, I begin my twentieth-eighth year teaching, my twentieth at BTSR. The realization has given me occasion to reflect on a number of matters. How has my thinking changed? Has my faith deepened? Continue reading My Confession of Faith
Grace: Transactional or Transformational?
Exod 2:24; Judg 2:16; Luke 17:12-19
Grace is not transactional.
This time of year means preparation for facing first year students. Most have never engaged in rigorous academic study of the Bible. They come to seminary as I came to my undergraduate religion major, innocently expecting that the Bible says what they have always thought it said and that serious study of it will only confirm what they Continue reading Grace: Transactional or Transformational?
“Be Angry and Sin Not”
Eph 4:26 (Ps 4:5 [4])
My parents had a mixed marriage of sorts. My mother had Quaker and strict Methodist heritage; my father was (still is, he would say) a United States Marine. Mother taught me that I should avoid conflict, bear insult and injury with quiet grace, and, above all else, maintain control of my temper. In her view, anger was always and only as dangerous and Continue reading “Be Angry and Sin Not”