Category: Blog

The age of the full-scale “hellenization” critique of early Christian doctrine seems to have passed, at least for now: anybody who wants to assert that the church’s early thinkers allowed the pure biblical message to be contaminated by Greek thought has to write so many footnotes qualifying the charge, answering compelling objections, making reasonable concessions,…

Theology of the Pastoral Epistles (Lecture)

Jul 23, 2015

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Here is video of a lecture I gave last semester on the theology of the pastoral epistles. The time I spent studying Titus and 1 & 2 Timothy last year at Los Angeles Bible Training School was very productive theologically. It seems like there have always been plenty of reasons to neglect and marginalize these…

No Mules Were Skinned: The History of the Muleskinner Blues

Jul 21, 2015

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in Art, Culture

Let’s say you get obsessed with a song. And let’s say it’s an old song, one that’s been around a long time and has been performed so many ways that it’s no longer possible to name any particular version of it as definitive. If you’re like me, that’s when you fire up a Youtube search…

Are Artists Creators?

Jul 20, 2015

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Matt Jenson

in Art, Culture

What do people do when they make a work of art? What do we mean when we speak of human creativity? Are artists creators? Humans are made in the image of God; does this imply that, in our creativity, we mirror his creating? Surely in some sense, human uniqueness includes our capacity to intentionally shape…

Witness to the Fittingness of the Atonement

Jul 16, 2015

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Perhaps you have heard critiques of penal substitution based on the fact that it seems rooted in divine violence, which in turn supports violence within families and social structures. Perhaps you have heard debates between adherents of different views of Christ’s work, both of which seemed important and warranted. Perhaps all you can think of…

Non-Competing Theories of the Atonement

Jul 13, 2015

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As I told my veteran pastor of my plans to do graduate studies in the doctrine of the atonement, a wry smile creased his face as he asked: “So… which theory of the atonement do you believe in?” I responded: “All of them!” The purpose of this book is to offer a more expansive answer…

“Put Away Thy Daintiness!” A Call to Meditate on Christ’s Atonement

Jul 9, 2015

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Augustine writes in his Confessions: “You stir man to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Immediately following this petition, he prays: “Grant me Lord to know and understand.” The ensuing few pages are filled with an impassioned plea for…

Spaaaace Tuuuunes!

Jul 5, 2015

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in Art, Culture, Theology

Here’s some fun music by friends at my church: Lost in Space, by The Pop Rockets. Click through to the Noisetrade page to sample all five tracks and download them if you like what you hear. As for me and my house, we like what we hear. Anybody with Vacation Bible School in their background will…

The Theologian’s Stone: Atonement In Harry Potter, Book I

Jul 2, 2015

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in Culture, Literature, Theology

“It is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn…. Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something pure and defenseless to…

The Bible and Divine Speaking

Jun 26, 2015

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The doctrine of Scripture (bibliology, the doctrine that states what the Bible is and how it functions in the church) ought to be a doctrine about God’s speech. When the doctrine is handled with proper amplitude and attentiveness, it is a doctrine about God communicating verbally in a way that results in these prophetic and…

Spiegelman’s “Maus,” Rights, & the Atonement

Jun 15, 2015

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