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The Power of the Biblical Story

Posted by Dr. Allan McNicol on January 23, 2018 at 10:42 AM

Dr. Allan J. McNicol has recently published his latest book, The Persistence of God's Endangered Promises: The Bible's Unified Story, from Bloomsbury Publishing. For Many years, Dr. McNicol has taught a Biblical Theology course that students at Austin Grad have found to be indispensible for understanding the story of God and his creation. This book offers an encapsulation and extension of a lifelong project of study and devotion. Click here to order Allan McNicol's New book, The Persistence of God's Endangered Promises. See the bottom of this post for a promotional code offering significant discount pricing!

I love the brief description of an incident that is told about Sir Walter Scott on his deathbed. After summoning his servant to his bedside Scott asks him to bring The Book. Glancing at the shelves all around bulging with books the servant responds querulously, “Which book?” “Son,” Scott responds, “when you are in my condition there is only one book!”

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Topics: Scripture Passage, Salvation, Hermeneutics, Biblical Narrative

Is the Chronicler a Pulp Fiction Writer?

Posted by Dr. Mark Shipp on January 16, 2018 at 4:26 PM

Part 1: The Literary and Historical Nature of Chronicles

I. Introduction

Someone had to do it. Chronicles is one of the last bastions of unexplored biblical territory. It has been lurking on the edges of the canon for thousands of years. Being ever the contrarian, I will deal with it.

Why this historical lack of interest in a biblical book? Besides being one of the last Old Testament books written or compiled, it’s title is off-putting: it is sepher hay-yammim in Hebrew, or “Day Book,” or “Chronicles of the days,” suggesting royal archives of inconsequential stuff. The title in the Septuagint is even worse: there, it is paraleipomenon, “Things Omitted,” presumably addenda of stuff left out of Samuel and Kings. It has not been considered a primary sourcebook for either the history or the theology of ancient Israel, and until recent years, scholars have relegated it to the extreme sidelines of biblical inquiry.

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Topics: Hermeneutics, Chronicles, Post-Exilic Judaism

Sexual Harassment and Hollywood's Double Standard

Posted by Dr. Keith Stanglin on January 9, 2018 at 12:42 PM

 

At the Golden Globe Awards this past Sunday, a number of actresses and actors wore black as a sign of protest against sexual harassment in Hollywood.  This is simply the latest statement of solidarity in light of the recent explosion of accusations against famous (and other not-so-famous) men, especially in—but not limited to—the entertainment industry.  The “#metoo” movement has become a cultural phenomenon, and the “Silence Breakers” were collectively awarded Time magazine’s person of the year in 2017.

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Topics: Golden Globes 2018, Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood, #metoo, sexual harassment

Ring Around the Collar and the Gospel: What's Your Story?

Posted by Dr. Todd Hall on January 4, 2018 at 11:39 AM

 

Human beings are “enstoried” creatures. We find ourselves inundated, moment by moment, with data of various kinds that must be interpreted, and the stories that we live within form the framework for our interpretation of the world around us. This can be true at the simplest level of life—I recognize and understand the different functions of a fork and a knife because of the narrative surrounding such implements (especially around proper table etiquette)—to the most profound of social difficulties—see, for example, the highly charged competing narratives on either side of various race issues in the United States. The stories we tell ourselves and that we live by thus have powerful implications for every facet of life, from ethics to epistemology to ontology. So what stories are we living by? (e.g., a grammarian lives by the story that this is an improperly built sentence in English; here, I am a deconstructionist: Down with the Binaries!)

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Topics: On-Topic Today, Teaching Moment, Technology, Discipleship

“Participants in the Divine Nature”: Theosis and Pauline Theology

Posted by Dr. Jeff Peterson on January 2, 2018 at 1:58 PM

 

For almost a quarter-century now, I have attended the Annual Meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature, thanks to the commitment of AGST’s administration that our faculty remain current with biblical and theological scholarship and to the generosity of our supporters. This year, a couple of friends and I looked back over the meetings we’d attended and sought to recall the sessions and papers that stuck out in our memory. It was easy to recall humorous moments, including a few disasters we had witnessed; from one of these, I learned that it’s the path of prudence to write something out on a topic before standing up to address a group of experts on it. It was easy to recall papers that advanced implausible interpretations, and hearing these is not without value; they often drive the listener back to the biblical text to pinpoint the problem with the proposed interpretation, and a clearer understanding of a passage of Scripture is the result. But sadly, it was much more difficult to recall papers that presented fresh, sound interpretations that we’ve fruitfully incorporated into our study and teaching of the Bible. (I was able to think of three, maybe more if I undertook a review of the meeting programs.)

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Topics: Christmas, theōsis, Salvation, Soteriology, Michael Gorman

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