rob bell: the gods aren’t angry

27 November 2007 — art

Last night I was able to attend Rob Bell’s The gods Aren’t Angry tour at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia. The only thing on stage was an altar and Rob Bell dressed in all black, except the white belt and dark green New Balances he was sporting. He spoke for about 90 minutes, taking the crowd from cavemen and cavewomen wondering what was behind the natural order they observed, to Christ ending the need for sacrifice. I was then able to hang out backstage with Rob and his wife and a few other people (my pastor and his wife, my girlfriend, and a few others) for about an hour and a half. We spent time talking about ancient Near Eastern literature, urban ministry, and Rob telling stories about him and my pastor, Steve Huber of liberti, during their time together at Wheaton. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Rob Bell. 19 Comments »

manny!!!

20 November 2007 — art

I know I said I wasn’t going to blog this week, but this is the one exception because its so different from anything I’ve written on this blog before…and because it has been something I really wanted to write about for a long time.

I realize that most times on this blog I am either talking about theological issues or the Boston Red Sox…which is because those are two things that I absolutely LOVE talking about. By doing this, I also realize that I do not talk much about other aspects of my life. So, here is a post that is out of the ordinary, a post about something personal.

The picture that you are looking at is a picture of my little “nephew” Manny. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Oh Life. 6 Comments »

papers, qoheleth, and rob bell

19 November 2007 — art

I won’t be blogging this week because of an extremely busy schedule. I just finished by papers on Psalm 51, John Levenson, and Theological Diversity in the Old Testament. I am about half way through with a paper on Jude’s quotation formula which he uses to introduce the quote from 1 Enoch 1.9 (Jude 14) and the implications this has on our understanding of canonicity, especially relating to Hebrew Scriptures. Then I’m moving onto a paper on the function and reinterpretation of the Exodus narrative in Ezekiel 20.33-38.

While all of this is going on, Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Old Testament, Rob Bell, Urban Ministry, WTS. 5 Comments »

alister mcgrath and richard dawkins

14 November 2007 — art

Alister McGrath serves as a professor of Historical Theology at Oxford. He has written a book entitled “The Dawkin’s Delusion.”

Richard Dawkins holds the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford. He has written a book entitled “The God Delusion.”

Two men. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Pipes Cigars and Alcohol (PCA), WTS. 3 Comments »

sign of the apocalypse?

13 November 2007 — art

When an out of shape pitcher goes 1-2 with an 8.80 ERA in the postseason and ends up winning the AL Cy Young, I start taking Jack Van Impe seriously.

Was this some sort of politically Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in BoSox. 3 Comments »

re:greek

12 November 2007 — art

Mark Driscoll’s theologically equipping ministry called Resurgence just announced the release of Re:Greek which is a revamped version of zhubert.com. Zack Hubert, the founder of zhubert.com, recently came on board at Mars Hill as the Pastor of Technology, which explains how zhubert.com came under the umbrella of Mars Hill.

If you always wanted to learn Greek or look up Greek words, but didn’t have the software, then you will love this. You can search by Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Mark Driscoll, New Testament. 4 Comments »

matthew’s use of the prophets: 04

12 November 2007 — art

An interesting quote I heard this week was from a guy called Rabbi Tovia Singer who started Outreach Judaism which is a ministry to Jewish people to either prevent their conversion to Christianity or to convince them to return from Christianity to Judaism. Rabbi Singer started this ministry because he was shocked at how many young people went to university and were converted to Christianity. In a lecture series entitled “Judaism’s Response to Christian Missionaries” (you can download it for free on iTunes by clicking here) Rabbi Singer says, “If it was just Paul’s use of the Old Testament that we were dealing with, then perhaps Jews could be persuaded to believe in Christianity. But that is not the case with Matthew, who simple does not read the Old Testament correctly and, when need be, simply makes up verses to prove his point. If I ever had the chance to talk to Matthew I would ask him one question: What are you doing to our Bible?” Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in NT's Use of the OT, New Testament, Old Testament. 1 Comment »

that’s my dog

12 November 2007 — art

Dustin Pedroia wins AL rookie of the year!!

Guess I made a good choice at which jerseys to purchase!!

Posted in BoSox. 5 Comments »

busy, busy

8 November 2007 — art

I will continue with “Wednesdays with Waltke” next week. I am just finishing up a paper on Psalm 50-51 and its later interpretation in relationship to the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Prayer of Manasseh. Apparently these communities read these psalms together but a later redactor separated them and attributed Psalm 50 to Asaph and Psalm 51 to David. I have a theory as to why….and will surely post it after the semester.

Since you don’t have to spend time reading my mostly pointless blogposts, you can head over to Ask Mark Anything and vote for my question. Right now it’s #28. If it gets into the top 9 then Mark will preach on it at the beginning of next year!! You get 10 votes a day, so keep voting. I think it would be both interesting to hear what Mark says and edifying for his community to hear an answer to a question that they probably hear in some “Bible as Literature” course in college.

Posted in Mark Driscoll, WTS. Leave a Comment »

comin’ forth to carry me home

5 November 2007 — art

I apologize for the lack of blogging lately. At this point in the semester I am working on 4 different papers and finishing my reading and translations for my courses. As soon as things slow down I will finish the series on McLaren’s new book and continue on Matthew’s use of the prophets. I also have a post on Freakonomics in the works, at the request of Hal.

I thought I could at least point out a post that I read today that Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Brian McLaren, Critical Rants, Emerging Movement, Reflections. 4 Comments »