(Part I was here)
A friend sends this photo from the west African country of Benin. The Benin coast is known as a slave coast, and has a fearsome monument known as The Gate of No Return marking the point of departure. A different monument, this one commemorates the coming of Christianity to Africa. I don't know much about it, but in its geometric simplicity this is as ...
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An enormous horse carries seven people in comfortable seats with cushy backs. He is led by a helpful cowboy (note the hat and spurs) whose expressive lasso guides the beast and covers the vehicle. The people inside have a range of emotional responses.
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Hot off the presses from Broadman & Holman Publishing is my book Jesus in Trinitarian Perspective: An Introductory Christology. In this book, Klaus Issler and I bring together six chapters by six authors who argue that "the savior who died on the cross and rose from the dead is the eternal second person of the Trinity." Readers of scriptoriumdaily.com will recognize ideas t...
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(Spoiler alert: the whale is mean and the captain is crazy.)
What a book is Melville's Moby-Dick! Everyone knows that it's a whopping leviathan of a novel. There are almost four hundred words just in the titles of the chapters. Melville, rarely subtle, spends more than enough pages making sure you know that it's a good idea to compare books to whales, and some of them ar...
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Featured Essay
As adults we realize that it is not socially acceptable to loudly complain. Parents realize that if they have a child who is constantly complaining their parental fitness will be called into question. Of course, parents want to look like they have their own house under control (yeah right) so they teach their children the pragmatic truth that complaining never accomplishes mu...
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William Burt Pope (1822-1903) was a great British Methodist theologian of the 19th century. I've written an introduction to his thought and sung his praises here.
One of Pope's strengths as a theologian is that he pondered so thoroughly the way each doctrine relates to all the others. This man thought through his theology backwards and forwards before he published! ...
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Just after three pm on February 3, 1691, a little boy was whittling on a piece of wood outside his house, when a raven landed on the steeple of the nearby church and said to him, "Look into Colossians 3:15."
The raven said this three times.
So the boy, obedient lad that he was, went inside and told his grandparents to look up that passage. What they found there was th...
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I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Focus on the Family's "Citizen Link" about the upcoming GodblogCon. Here's an excerpt from that interview:
Q. Why should people attend the conference?
A. Most people probably feel that this is a passing trend, a fad. I’m afraid if we went back and looked at pastors in the 1920s, these were the kind of things people were saying...
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Chalcedonian christology is hard enough: one person, two natures, three strikes you're out. But post-chalcedonian christology? Who has time for that kind of thought project? Once you've decided that the theology of the early church can help you think through a biblical doctrine of who Jesus Christ is, you might be persuaded to study the council of Chalcedon, but most introdu...
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Featured Essay
By Guest Contributor: Dustin Steeve
It is good that a ‘Great Books’ honors program should present a conference on new media. Though it may seem ironic, a classical education provides both the ability to understand the revolution that is occurring in media and the impetus to help lead it. As the coordinator of this year’s GodblogCon, I have found my classical educatio...
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In this part of his speech, Osama destroys any chance peace loving Christians might hope exists for compromise with those who share his views. Osama attacks democracy and free markets as the root of our problems and the conflict.
Want peace with this twisted form of "Islam?"
Here is what Osama and his followers will demand:
Americans will have to give up their republi...
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Osama has sent a message to his foes. His enemies include most of Islam (which he condemns as apostate) and all the West. He hates our vices, but he also hates our virtues.
His lies are persuasive to many since they are founded on fear and a lack of faith in the might of God to defend Himself. In tough times Holy Scripture shows people will rush to idols to relieve the probl...
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