Ryan Burns“Surely that can’t be right.” I leaned closer to the computer screen, willing away the obvious. However, it was hard to deny the pull of reality, and the next few minutes were spent coming to grips with the fact that in my first...
Steve RungeFor those of you wondering where I’ve been, for the last two weeks I was at the Wales Evangelical School of Theology (WEST) and Cambridge, teaching and attending conferences. At WEST I taught a class similar to the Mobile Ed course now on Pre-Pub...
Michael S. HeiserA few weeks ago I saw Jurassic World, the latest installment of the Jurassic Park franchise based on the Michael Crichton novel by that name. The novel and the films center around the idea of bringing dinosaurs back from extinction by means of...
The hardest class I have taken in seminary is Greek Exegesis of James. This was the capstone class for the Biblical Greek classes and includes creating narrative flows, taking weekly quizzes, a Final exam, and writing the “notorious” exegesis paper...
Readers know that I’m a biblical scholar by training. What most won’t realize is that I’m a political junkie. My undergraduate degree is actually in History and Political Science. Since one of my graduate degrees is in history (albeit ancient...
Greek class often gets a bad rap in seminary. Bible students would probably interpret Paul’s words about trials and tribulations to be a reference to Greek class. “For what can separate us from the love of God…certainly Greek class...
One of my teachers in the Seminary once remarked that theology has the tendency of making theological students and teachers become complacent and lukewarm about spiritual things. At first, I joined others in criticizing the teacher’s statement on...
Developing a prayer life is important as you go through seminary life. It is important because of the busyness of your schedule, to prepare you for future ministry, and to equip you lead your family. One of the reasons why you want to develop a...
Paul Burkhart“No Politics in Church? Not So Fast.” | Religion & Politics // As many of us have heard, Pew Research recently came out with a study highlighting the decline of Christianity and the rise of the unaffiliated and atheist. Many of these...
A while back, I attended a performance of Rebirth of a Nation, a film created by Paul Miller (aka DJ Spooky) that seeks to deconstruct and remix the 1915, W.D. Griffith film, Birth of a Nation, a highly acclaimed cinematic venture and one of the...
Steve’s on vacation to Glacier Park, Montana this week, but he posted this note from the road. Have questions about what the Summer Reading Challenge is? Read last week’s post for the details, and be sure to join the discussion at...
Faithlife StaffAdded a link to Spectres of Paul: An Interview with with Neil Elliott under the Articles section of Paul and Empire.
One of my favorite scholarly quotations about the hard work of seriously engaging the biblical text—what we popularly call Bible study—is that of the renowned Greek lexicographer, Frederick W. Danker (the “D” in BDAG). Danker famously said that...
When my hubby said, “I think I should go to seminary,” I laughed (should my name be Sarah?) “Sure, if God provides,” I replied, fully expecting to still be barren financially, but God provided the tuition. We sold our house, almost all our...
We are heading into the summer vacation season, the perfect time to let your bible reading go on vacation too! I am issuing a Summer Reading Challenge for those wanting to either enhance (or begin!) their regular time in Scripture. How? I will be...
Anyone who teaches the Word of God wants people excited about exploring Scripture. Ultimately, you want to turn listeners into competent students so that they can teach others. Along the way you have to deal with a lot of mistaken methods and...
“Are we reading the book of Genesis as if God has sort of subtly placed scientific information there for us to read 2000, 3000, 4000 years later as modern people?” asks Dr. John Walton. “Or are we supposed to read it as an ancient book? I’m inclined...
In my first year of seminary, I was in a New Testament class with an eccentric and somewhat unorthodox professor who enjoyed challenging various long-held theological assumptions and beliefs with the goal of helping us freshly think through these...
Let’s get the obvious out of the way. You should read your Bible. You should also commit Scripture to memory. Both spiritual disciplines are axiomatic for Christians. But neither is Bible study. I’ll explain what I mean by taking one at a time...
Was Abraham called to kill Isaac? Yes. He went forward with that plan until God “called” otherwise. Would he have been disobedient to continue with the original “calling” of killing Isaac after God said “stop”? In the church today we have a very...
We’ve all heard the old saying that certain things get better with age—wine, cheese, common sense. Anyone who’s watched Antiques Roadshow also knows that the longer you have something that there’s a demand for—real estate, investments, fine art, a...
It’s May, which for most schools is graduation season. Men and women who have invested countless hours in classrooms and libraries are now preparing for the ceremony that will mark the end of a sometimes long and often very difficult journey...
Names are typically the best way of quickly achieving identification, especially if the person is already know to everyone. But sometimes context demands that you do something other than the ordinary. TV programs are a great modern example of this...
Because the Bible says quite clearly that it is “God-breathed” (2 Tim. 3:16), Christians tend to think of inspiration as some sort of otherworldly event. In the course of many years of teaching biblical studies (and chit-chat that happens at church)...
“There are two basic approaches, or philosophies, to translation,” says Dr. Mark Strauss in his course BI181 Introducing Bible Translations. The first is called formal equivalence. It’s also known as a word-for-word or literal...
When I was interviewing for my first associate pastor role, the senior pastor said something to my wife and me that I would soon learn was almost a mantra: “If you come to Cold Springs Church, you will experience spiritual warfare.”...
We’re going to take a look at another passage found in all three Synoptic gospels recounting Jesus’s response to the Pharisees complaint about His disciples plucking grain on the Sabbath in violation of law. All three gospels have the...
As a biblical scholar, I’m often asked for advice on how to interpret the Bible. I could refer people to tools (like Logos Bible Software) and techniques for analyzing the original languages, even if you’re dependent on English (like Learn to Use...
Though this title may sound a bit cheesy, any seminary student will tell you that one of the best parts of seminary is the lifelong friendships that you form. Think about it, it is most likely the one time in your life that you will be surrounded by...
Steve’s away at BibleTech this week, so we got one of our Logos pros to show us how we can use the principles of discourse grammar and Steve’s Hi-Definition resources in conjunction with Logos 6 to gain new insight for preaching and study. In this...