Scot McKnight: March 2009 Archives

I have a Rancilio Silvia espresso machine. I had a wonderful cup of latte this morning but forgot to turn the machine off. (I did not leave the steaming wand on.)

When I got home this evening, I thought I'd see if the machine was damaged. When I tried to pull a shot of espresso the water ran through the grind way too fast.

Any suggestions?

How many e-mails are stored in your Inbox? As I type this, I've got three and one of those is no more than a reminder for tomorrow morning? I try to keep my Inbox to less than ten, and that means responding quickly and either filing the e-mail or deleting it.

Who's got some wisdom for us on this one?

Knowledge of the "word" (logos) is not enough for James. Any listening that does not lead to doing is not proper listening and is not enough. So James says in 1:22-25:

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does.

James' image is clever. In fact, it's comedic at one level and tragic at another: no one, of course, looks into a mirror in the morning in order to see what she or he looks like and then does nothing about it, except the one who thinks he or she can listen to the "logos" and listen to what it says and not do what it says.

 The first two heresies were about who Christ is/was. The next two are about how the divine and the human nature are related. The first concerned Nestorius and Theotokos, the God-bearer. The next heresy is from Eutyches and Eutychianism or Monophysitism. All of this is discussed at an excellent level by B. Quash and M. Ward, Heresies and How to Avoid Them: Why It Matters What Christians Believe .

In essence (that's a pun), Eutychianism teaches that Jesus has only one nature, and it is hybrid of divine and human. The impact is that Jesus' humanity is not (quite) the same as ours. The Fourth Council, at Chalcedon in 451, decreed this view incompatible with our gospel and salvation. The Church has always held this viewpoint.

A theme in this book is that heresy prompts reflection that leads to sound theology, to orthodoxy. But, as the author of this chp, Marcus Plested, an Orthodox theologian, states it, orthodoxy is more than reponse to bad ideas but the living articulation of we know to be true about the gospel.

Here are the characteristics of the Facebook Generation (via Fr Rob). What do you think?

1. All ideas compete on an equal footing.

2. Contribution counts for more than credentials.

3. Hierarchies are natural, not prescribed.

4. Leaders serve rather than preside.

5. Tasks are chosen, not assigned.

6. Groups are self-defining and -organizing.

7. Resources get attracted, not allocated.

8. Power comes from sharing information, not hoarding it.

9. Opinions compound and decisions are peer-reviewed.

10. Users can veto most policy decisions.

11. Intrinsic rewards matter most.

12. Hackers are heroes.

We will look this week at James 1:22-25, and I want to begin by quoting these most important of verses:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word...

The gospel is my focus in study and research these days, and the subject of most my extra lectures I'm giving at various places, and I want to post two definitions of the gospel I've recently seen. How do you...

Here is a good conversation starter; something I think should be asked of every ministry spouse.  How do you [as a ministry spouse] introduce yourself? When you are at church, do you introduce yourself as, "the pastor's wife" or  as...

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our...

Chicago's Spring evokes hope!A friend of mine, Dana Del George, has a new book for children whose parents are divorced. Take a good look at it: The Queen of Fire and the King of Ice .A blog worth watching: Practicing...

Michael W. Smith song?  My favorite is Kentucky Rose....

James reveals an early, if not the earliest, early Christian (post Jesus) understanding of "new birth" and "spiritual formation." Notice how James thinks the community is to be formed spiritually:"humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you"...

This week's Friday is for Friends comes from Matt Edwards, at Believers Fellowship in Gig Harbor.I have a question regarding loyalty and the third way. One of the prominent attributes of YHWH in the Old Testament is His hesed, translated...

"What the congregation needs is not a strategist to help them form another plan for achieving a desired image of life, but a poet who looks beneath even the desperation to recover the mystery of what it means to be...

We are doing a series on NT commentaries, and I have to confess that I forgot about it ... so here is the Gospel of Mark. Our goals is to provide for pastors and students and serious Bible students a...

Who's going to be voted off American Idol tonight? Who do you think will win?...

This is the 3d post by Chris Folmsbee, a leader in youth ministry theology.It wasn't until I was nearly half a dozen years into vocational youth ministry that I began to discover that I couldn't will a sense of community. ...

 The first two heresies were about who Christ is/was. The next two are about how the divine and the human nature are related. The first concerns Nestorius and gave rise to the Councel of Ephesus at which council Mary...

What if you think you are going in the right direction but don't like it or feel empty about it?...

Community's advance and progress and are formed when those communities put away things that destroy and work against community. If quick-to-listen and slow-to-speak are two major characteristics of community, then James 1:21 describes the things that need eradication:19 My dear brothers,...

David Blankenhorn, in a column in 1997 (and anthologized in a book my class is reading --  Wing to Wing, Oar to Oar: Readings on Courting and Marrying (The Ethics of Everyday Life) ), discusses the potential symbolic value of marriage...

Most holy and merciful Father: We confess to you and to one another, and to the whole communion of saints in heaven and on earth, that we have sinned by our own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what...

This question befuddles the newspaper industry right now, and newspapers are folding up (or we are seeing paper cuts) everywhere -- so what's the solution? Here's a line from a recent CNN article:Competition naturally breeds better journalism is the credo...

How do humans accomplish God's will? James tells us that human anger can never bring about God's will, and he has to be speaking here into (at least) the zealot option of the 1st Century. The Zealots, if you remember,...

The most significant error among populist evangelical Christians, one heard in almost any adult SS class or Bible study, is docetism. Never put quite that way, belief by many is that Jesus' humanity is not quite what it seems....

It seems every year someone brings up the Bible and alcohol (the drinking kind). My first response, kept to myself but now made public, is this "Yo, have you ever tasted Brunello or a South African wine or a good...

What are characteristics that form and sustain community? James, the brother of Jesus, has some powerful advice. Here are the words of James 1:19-21:19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and...

This is a series about the spouses of pastors by a friend, who is a pastor's wife.One of the things affected by the economy is church budgets. Have the realities of the world-wide economy reached your church budget?  Now let's...

C.S. Lewis famously argued that morals need God, that one cannot have universal morals without a divine foundation for those morals. That is, apart from belief in God it is hard to maintain belief in morals. The question Lewis provokes...

Can someone explain why CNN includes "NASCAR" on the Sports page?What is required to consider something a "sport"? Isn't a ball needed?...

Who can name the players in the famous game between UCLA and the University of Houston? I'll give you two: Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Elvin Hayes (Big E). Do you know who won?...

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and...

We just saw this in Dallas. I'm personally persuaded that the death of President Kennedy can't simply be reduced to Lee Harvey Oswald....

Chicago! Walter Brueggemann on the Bible's view of economics. (HT: JD)A must-read blog by Owen Youngman.New blogs I've recently seen worth following: PreacherMike and Wade Hodges.And Eric Bryant's blog is uber-cool.David Cramer has come out as a pacifist and has...

Song by ze vurld's greades zinger Celine Dion? Here's some of mine...  ...

Why is it so much easier (or seem to be) for folks to discern God's will/plan for other people? It seems easier to see God's involvement through "the rear view mirror." How do we discern where God is moving ahead?...

This post is from Chrissy Wright, and I think she offers a serious counter to how one NT text is frequently used. (Next week from Matt Edwards.) How do you think this verse about avoiding the appearance of evil should...

Would you abort a fetus just because it wasn't yours?The question sounds crazy. How could it not be yours? If it's in your body, you must be the mom, right?Wrong. Through in vitro fertilization, you can get pregnant with somebody...

What do you think is the most important tool or tools to carry with you on your journey through life toward discerning and doing God's will? (Thanks to Brent Bill.)...

Why does God give humans the "new birth" or why does God "recreate" humans? Notice how James frames one of the earliest understandings of the doctrine of regeneration: "He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that...

Chris Folmsbee has already offered us two posts about youth ministry, and this is his third. Along with Marko's new book we have two posts today about youth work. This post about evangelism is very important to me. I'm working...

So, what can we do? Marko, in his new book, Youth Ministry 3.0: A Manifesto of Where We've Been, Where We Are & Where We Need to Go , has a bundle of suggestions and I want to discuss...

Here is one of the earliest Christian reflections on the new birth:18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.There are a number of things to...

We need to develop an ongoing conversation about youth ministry. Marko's book provides for us a virtual history of youth ministry in the last 50+ years and does so clearly and simply. We need this book. (By the way,...

What about Arius, the prototypical heretic? The 1st chp in B. Quash and M. Ward, Heresies and How to Avoid Them: Why It Matters What Christians Believe , written by Michael B. Thompson (Anglican Vice-Principal of Ridley Hall in...

Jeff Cook teaches philosophy at the University of Northern Colorado; he blogs and he's the author of a book called Seven: The Deadly Sins and the Beatitudes . Jeff's post today reflects the kind of love that Lent leads us...

Our governor in Illinois, Pat Quinn, is proposing to increase cigarette taxes over the next year to a dollar more. Good grief, Governor, keep this up and folks will quit smoking! And he wants to add State taxes 50%. Maybe...

We met Wade in Nashville at the Zoe Conference last fall. Really liked him. He's heading down to Austin TX now and this is what the good folks down there can look forward to. You might think this is a...

The word "heresy" appears on this blog every now and then, and I have long wanted to do a series on heresy and heresies and have now found a perfect reason: B. Quash and M. Ward, Heresies and How to...

Does James suggest that the trails of life are to be seen as "gifts" from God? That they are to be converted from trial into "catacombs" of conversion? Notice these words and read them in the context of James 1:2-4:16 Don't...

I sat down the other day with a youth pastor and asked a direct question that I've asked a number of youth leaders: "What percentage of your youth become adult, mature Christians?" His response: "You want the truth?" I said,...

May no dreams disturb our rest and no nightmares darken our dreams. May no fears or worries delay our willing, prompt repose. May the virtue of our daily work hallow our nightly prayers. May our sleep be deep and soft...

Kris and I had never been to Lubbock TX, and one friend wrote to me that it resembles lunar landscape. We did see tumbleweed and we heard reports of a dust storm, but overall we thought Lubbock was a delightful...

James 1: 16 Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through...

I recently read an article about trust and took The Trust Test. This article raised all sorts of flags of recognition for me as a ministry spouse. The article points to many common pitfalls of not listening to our inner...

Mark Galli, senior managing editor at Christianity Today, has just responded to Michael Spencer's (iMonk) colossal prediction of the imminent collapse of evangelicalism. I'd like to shift this conversation a bit to two other questions to see if we might...

What did you think of the pairings? Who will win?...

What do you think of the new changes at Facebook?...

Aksel sends his greetings from Florida....

Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body,...

What do you think?...

Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Trends among young evangelicals (HT: GO).Trends among evangelicals (Barna's newest report).Trends among Americans and Christianity.Trends in internet thinking about universalism.Trends in tweeting.Motives matter.Weeds matter.Marko matters!I don't know what the 10 most influential ideas are today, but Time's...

This post wraps up our series for this week.Conclusions Let me now try to draw together some threads. The temporal indicators of Mark 13 and parallels suggest that Jesus envisioned everything therein described as occurring within one generation. Roughly speaking,...

Elton John song? I like this with Kiki Dee (here's the original version):...

Kevin Sweeney accepted our invitation to submit material for the Jesus Creed blog and I think you'll like this one. (Next week we've got a provocative post by Chrissi Wright.) What do you think of his proposal? We Can't Get...

A letter from a reader, to which I responded in private. Permission was granted for publication of this letter.Scot,I hope this email finds you healthy and well.  I am looking for some guidance or help working through a theological question(s).In...

Continued from yesterday.Our second point: Jesus said that all these things would occur before that time. Let me set this comment in context. In Matt 23:36 Jesus said to his followers this: "Amen, I say to you, all these things...

James looks into the eyes and hearts of the oppressed and poor messianists, now scattered from home and facing oppression at the hands of the rich -- the odds are against them. He looks at them and tells the to...

As announced last week, Chris Folmsbee will blog at Jesus Creed about youth ministry. I'm keen that we develop more sensitivity to youth ministries and ministers, and Chris is at the cutting edge of what is going on. The more...

In the HBO series "John Adams," Adams calls Abigail, his wife, My Friend. He says she was his number one ballast; she was his advisor; and friend. What one word best describes your relationship to your ministry spouse? What one...

These words are in red in most of our Bibles because they are from Jesus:37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did...

This is the third in our brief (and much more needs to be said about all kinds of terms and verses -- like "prophetic" vs. "apocalyptic") sketch of a partial preterist view of Mark 13. This view, I'd like folks...

We can't analyze these three verses in James 1 all at once, but I want to provide the text today and offer a couple of comments:13 When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be...

We saw a bumper sticker the other day that, however much of a sound byte approach to a profound issue, said: "Guns cause murder the way gnats cause garbage." OK, that's clever. But we can read on most any web...

Most holy and merciful Father: We confess to you and to one another, and to the whole communion of saints in heaven and on earth, that we have sinned by our own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what...

We finish today the book by Jean Twenge, a book that provides powerful statistics about generation trends. Her book is called  Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled--and More Miserable Than Ever Before).What do you think...

Part two in our series on the eschatology of Jesus.A word about this so-called "third" quest for the historical Jesus. In the wake of WWII Christian scholars awoke to the view that their understandings of Judaism were skewed and those...

There is reciprocity between God's blessing and human living. Notice these words in James 1:12: "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has...

The news media are all reporting a significant shift from Bush to Obama on stem cell research. How do you think about this issue? What studies do you consider important on this one? Do you think there is too much...

What about women? Do the iGens show higher levels of equality and integration? Jean Twenge studies this in her 7th chp (Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled--and More Miserable Than Ever Before).What are the biggest...

One of the things that my international coworkers insist on is a signature in any of their correspondence. They are from all over the world: England, Canada, Australia, Japan, India, and Germany.We Americans have lost the civil art or the...

This is a 5-part series we will post this entire week at about this time. It will unpack a "partial preterist" view of Jesus' eschatology. Oddly enough, I was interviewed last week by CBS TV in Chicago about 2012. Evidently,...

Once again James gets a look-alike award for what he has to say in James 1:12.Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God...

What are the causes of our economic crisis? Deregulation of financial institutions? Subprime mortgages? Housing bubble? Fraud? Adam Hamilton, in his little wise book called Enough: Discovering Joy through Simplicity and Generosity , gets this right. And it takes a...

What about equality? Do the iGens show higher levels of equality and integration? Jean Twenge studies this in her 7th chp (Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled--and More Miserable Than Ever Before).Her studies involved minorities,...

If you've got a Bible close at hand, open it up to Romans 16:7. Herein lies a tale I want to tell you. And I begin by quoting the NIV, then the NASB and then the NLT:Greet Andronicus and Junias,...

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of...

What about sex? In her study, Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled--and More Miserable Than Ever Before), Jean Twenge examines generational shifts about sexual activity and attitudes.What to do? What do you think really works...

We may not have the same kind of Weekly Meanderings next week, unless something goofy happens and keeps me near a computer. We'll be on Spring Break in North Carolina, beginning in Asheville, and then meandering up to southwest Virginia,...

... song by Abba? Mine: Dancing Queen. You can't listen to Abba's Dancing Queen without wanting to do some dancin'. I hear that even Mike Bird, when he remembers Abba in Australia, can really cut a rug on this one. ...

St. Augustine famously said, "for You have formed us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in You" (Confessions 1.1.1). Though I've never seen a full-scale discussion of the Bible's presentation of the "inner apologetic," how...

Mark Swallow blogs at The Swallow's Nest. Next week we will hear from Kevin Sweeney. Today's post is a powerful reflection, if not grief, about church by one who loves the church and seeks for conversation. Mark Swallow is from...

Last week a group of us were sitting over lunch when a female colleague asked if we had heard of the "impostor syndrome." I hadn't, so she explained it. Here's the essence, drawn from Wikipedia (with their links remaining). What...

We aren't quite done with James 1:9-11.9 The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. 10 But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild...

Through a variety of influences I have renewed my own commitment to the utter significance of youth ministry today -- and I mean by that from junior high until adulthood (and that might mean 12 to 30!). Our future churches...

From Erwin McManus: "Most of us want God to fix every wrong choice we make without taking from us our right to choose wrongly. We want to make God into our own pooper-scooper following right behind us, cleaning up our...

Here are the words of James 1:9-11: 9 The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. 10 But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild...

in the area from Asheville, NC, to Roanoke, VA? Got some suggestions? Kris and I will be tooling around that area next week and wonder if there are some "must-stops" for coffee....

One of the themes that emerges from generational studies about iGens, those who are 18-35, is cynicism. Typified by two expressions: "Yeah, right" and "Whatever." Jean Twenge discusses the presence and increase of cynicism among iGens in the 5th...

A letter from a pastor friend ... We've not had a conversation about demons, Satan, and sinister presence on this blog that I remember. I'm wondering how you approach such texts in the Bible? Hi Scot We are in Lent,...

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us a new and contrite heart, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may...

Kris and I have been talking about this one and we are making a shift that I think will make this blog even better. I've been doing a series for a couple of years called "Friday is for Friends" and...

The theme of James 1:9-11, as we tried to show yesterday, is reversal. The current oppressive conditions of the poor will be overturned by an act of God and the oppressors will be brought before the bar of the Lord...

Scott thanks for all your comments and push back. Always appreciated. Clearly we're playing with semantics here. I don't say that dismissively. Semantics matter--some times more than other times. I'll let others judge whether it matters here. It may be...

Shane Hipps got this ball rolling, then I weighed in, and now Anne Jackson has weighed in. (And she's pulled the plug on internetting during Lent so she might not weigh back in until April 13 or later.) And Shane...

Abisomeone has asked us to re-shape this discussion. If you listen to him and like him, tell us what you like about Rush. ...

Can someone explain why so many listen to and follow Rush Limbaugh? Kris and I were listening to his speech ("address to the nation") a bit last night and ... well... I thought I'd see what you folks are thinking....

The Catholic authorities say no. What about you? Is support of abortion grounds not to permit the eucharist? Q. When should a Catholic refrain from receiving holy Communion? A. In November 2006, the bishops of the United States issued a...

Reversal is one of James' convictions. He's looking at and like his brother on this one too. What is reversal?That the present conditions are unjust; that the conditions are contrary to God's design; that God will (soon?) step in to...

We begin today a new series. For now, we are calling it "Behind the Scenes." We will have all kinds of discussions about this topic (below) and I won't give any more away so here goes ... a new series...

In a recent Out of Ur Blog, JI Packer weighed in on whether communion is open or not. Here are the first bits and I'm curious as to what you think. (The rest of his piece is at that link.)Do...

Many of us know about the high correlation between the faith of parents and the faith of teenagers. This was all sorted out and described by Christian Smith, in his book Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American...

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find...