The World Together blog : Bible and theology
-
The real problem with divine violence in the Old Testament
Greg Boyd
I want to state what I consider to be the real problem that violent divine portraits pose.
-
The danger of the light
Julie Clawson
For Lent this year the church I attend is exploring the idea of light — of entering into the light, of letting light illuminate the truth. As much as Christians like to talk about the light shining into the darkness, we often forget how dangerous light can be.
-
Tempted by spiritual illusions
Joanna Harader
Have you ever played peek-a-boo with a baby? Hide your face behind a baby blanket or your hands, wait a beat, and … “peek-a-boo!” The baby’s squeals of delight are enough to make you repeat the move over and over and over and over . . .
-
Considering your life on Ash Wednesday
Christine Sine
Playing for the ashes … it conjures up for many of us (at least from the British Commonwealth) the test cricket match between Australia and England, probably one of the most fiercely fought international games. But that is not what I am writing about here. The ashes that I am thinking of have nothing to do with a game but with Ash Wednesday which ushers in probably the most serious event of history — Jesus final days and his walk towards the cross.
-
Body image
Amy Yoder McGloughlin
This is from a sermon based on I Cor. 12:12-31a.
-
Our wedding feast: A sermon on John 2:1-11
Meghan Florian
Three days ago Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan by John. Three days ago John saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove. This man Jesus is different, somehow. He walks by, and people say, “Look, here is the lamb of God!” (John 1:36).
-
‘A Year of Biblical Womanhood’ makes me want to become a better man
Kurt Willems
I’ve followed Rachel Held Evans’ “Year of Biblical Womanhood” project since she announced it a couple of years back. By that time, we had already connected on the Web. Since then, I’ve followed with interest, reading several blog posts about her journey. Shortly after the “year” had come to completion, I led a workshop at a conference where Rachel gave a general session talk. She spoke masterfully of the problem of Biblicism (of the wooden-literal-ahistorical variety) interweaving images and stories from the previous 12 months of her life. All this to suffice that by the time I started reading the advanced copy of her book about the project I was sent, I knew the gist of the story.
-
Evangelical political theologies
Scot McKnight
This is not about the right candidate; this is about how evangelicals frame their relationship to politics. And one of the best pieces to read on this topic is Geoffrey C. Bowden’s “The Evangelical-Anabaptist Spectrum,” an essay in the fine book The Activist Impulse: Essays on the Intersection of Evangelicalism and Anabaptism. What Bowden does is sketch the spectrum from Francis Schaeffer to John Howard Yoder and, at the same time, show Jim Wallis began more like Yoder and is today more like Schaeffer. Yikes, that’s quite the thesis.
-
A little Anabaptist ambivalence about scripture
Hannah Heinzekehr
I had the opportunity to attend a chapel service at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, one of two graduate schools owned and operated by Mennonite Church USA. For this service, six individuals stood up to read a scripture passage that had been formative in their life and to offer a short, two or three sentence reflection on why this text was important to them. There were some lovely, poignant reflections, and after each speaker, we in the congregation would respond by singing the stanza: The word of God is solid ground, our constant firm confession.
-
Discerning God’s will for the individual
Patrick Nafziger
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — God’s good, pleasing and perfect will. — Rom. 12:2
Download