In the Nick of Time
Kevin Bauder of Central Seminary is always worth hearing. And this blog hears him. It's my firm desire that this blog never be what he describes in the last line of the following paragraph of this excellent, timely essay: These young [fundamentalist] leaders are aware of the injustices of the past, and consequently they are very much on their guard against the imperfections of the present. When they perceive anything that looks like the old imperialism, they tend to react strongly. Given the...
ἀγάπη
I've spent much of the last two weeks trying to process and organize the usage data for ἀγάπη/ἀγαπάω (and, to a lesser extent, φιλέω) in the Greek New Testament, the Septuagint, Josephus, and even the Apostolic Fathers. BibleWorks and Logos were essential tools for this work. I'm going to present that material to you, and if you think you see a hole, feel free to point it out. First, I'll point to some usage data which I think casts doubt on the common view that ἀγάπη is always and only a...
The Truth about Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons
Westminster Theological Seminary has put together a response to Dan Brown's book—now Ron Howard's movie—Angels and Demons. Check it out.
The Good Samaritan and ἀγάπη
A little tip for word study in the Bible: Don't think that you have exhausted the topic of "love" when you have looked up and studied every passage in which "love" appears—or even every passage in which forms of ἀγαπάω or φιλέω appear. No one word, Greek or English, communicates the Bible's ethic of love. Sentences and whole paragraphs and arguments and sections communicate that ethic. For example, if you tried to do an exhaustive study of love in the NT and you did so by looking up ἀγαπάω and...
For Truly Dedicated Readers
My blog is now available for the Kindle. I do truly enjoy my Kindle. It has been for me a real gift from the Father of Lights.