Tête-à-Tête-Tête

Ken Pulliam, a former fundamentalist, has possibly a bigger beef with the notion of penal substitutionary theory of atonement than I do. His latest is a response to another effort to defend the theory from the charges that this theory turns the notion of “justice” on its head: distorts it into something wicked, then attributes [...]

This is just a quick thought-dump… And post title not-withstanding, I would never try to project modern socio-economic theories onto the socio-economic systems of ancient cultures: that would be comparing apples to eggs. So, whether or not this bit is a definitive and responsible estimate of the Levitical system of civil finance it [...]

Without thinking Angels (or even Abraham or Isaac) are or were real, and without feeling it is strictly necessary to go find a positive message where nothing truly positive was originally intended in passages from the Jewish and Christian scriptures, I’m nonetheless moved by this (reformed) Rabbinic take on the Abraham / Isaac story, left [...]

I notice that James McGrath took up the ConservativeBible Project this morning, too. It must be going around. But today I have a serious question…
Regarding that “resourceful” manager of Luke 16, what does that parable really mean? Briefly, the rich man is getting ready to fire the bad steward, the bad [...]

I’m laughing as I write this. Today, I received a tip from dear friend Elaine W. She said I should check out the ConservativeBible Project at Conservapedia. Now, I know that the good people at Conservapedia probably aren’t aware that the NIV is the preferred translation of conservative Christians (who are somehow unaware that [...]

Not long ago, in an adult RE forum, a fellow enthusiast suggested that neither the apostles nor Jesus himself could have believed that Jesus was God, because they were all good, monotheistic Jews. I interrupted, even though I agree with him that Jesus and the apostles probably held a lower Christology than anything found [...]

As promised, not a criticism of the right… And, not my own. Just an illustration of the kind of thinking that leads one down a dead-end alley and holds one there permanently. Illustrated beautifully in the words of James McGrath.
In brief:
(1) Both show a lack of familiarity with the basic data in [...]

Father Stephen presents a critique of the Protestant Reformation, especially the doctrine of sola scriptura, in terms of Apostolic succession.
You all know where I stand on these matters… I see the necessity of using the historical critical method to understand the meaning of the writers and to approximate an understanding of the historical events [...]

Yesterday’s rant and subsequent tempest has left me with little urge to blog. But, in case they would be lost in the recommended reading column, I’d like to point out some static pages I recently found at April DeConick’s blog that are – at least to me – thought provoking. Her take on [...]

Subscribing to a number of bloggers who belong to Biblioblogs keeps me busy realizing how much I don’t know. I say this by way of making clear that this is a “thinking out loud post” – not a “here’s how it is” post, and also to give me an opportunity to say how grateful I [...]