I’m once again opening up David DeSilva‘s excellent introduction to the Apocrypha as I gear up for my Jewish and Greco-Roman Backgrounds of the New Testament class at Eternity Bible College. Here’s a link to deSilva’s book, Introducing the Apocrypha. My hope is that we modern Christians (especially us Protestants) would become more like the…
Category: Politics
Another Good Resource on Revelation
In my last post, I mentioned Michael Gorman’s Reading Revelation Responsibly. That book is definitely one you need to own. Another book on Revelation that I highly recommend is J. Nelson Kraybill’s Apocalypse and Allegiance: Worship, Politics, and Devotion in the Book of Revelation. It’s been a while since I’ve read it, but it left…
A Good Resource on Revelation
If you’re looking for good, accessible resources for understanding Revelation, Michael Gorman’s book would be among them. Its title captures our calling as Christians: We are to be responsible interpreters of the Bible. This is especially true for Revelation. Through the years, Revelation has often been subject to careless and irresponsible interpretations. (Some of the…
Advice for Reading Revelation
In his book, Reversed Thunder, the late Eugene Peterson offers a simple strategy for reading the last book of the New Testament: Before you read Revelation, read all the books that come before it first. He says, “. . . no one has any business reading the last book who has not read the previous…
Interview on the Mark of the Beast
I was recently invited by Neil Boron to come on his radio show to talk about the so-called “mark of the beast.” We talked about a range of things related to that topic–including the historical context of Revelation, as well as the various rumors floating around that the mark has something to do with Covid-19…
A Prayer for the Church
From the Book of Common Prayer: Gracious Father, we pray for your holy catholic Church. Fill itwith all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt,purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it isamiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is inwant,…
Before you share on social media, read this…
Election drama is unfolding before our eyes. Now more than ever, we need calm and sanity. Every time I venture onto social media, it seems we are nowhere close to either one. This is due to a variety of factors—not least of which is the plethora of false information being shared. A lot of news…
Here’s How I Think You Should Vote
As you might have heard, Americans have an election today. Voters everywhere will be rooting for their candidate to take home the prize. The big win, they say, will be the Oval Office. Not only are we deciding on the next Congress and a variety of local offices, we are also voting on the next…