Let The New England School of Theology be part of your continuing Bible education. We have five exciting courses in our Spring 2012 line up. Register today – some classes start soon!
The organization Wallbuilders recently completed a lengthy survey of President Obama’s apparent treatment of Christian traditions, organizations and beliefs throughout his service in office. Their evaluation might be shocking to some. The title of David Barton’s piece is “America’s Most Biblically-Hostile U. S. President.” It is reproduced here in its entirety with permission from Wallbuilders.
Interpretation is the key to unlocking the meaning of stories in the Bible. It could be good, bad and even ugly.
All too often we are quick to sift out a meaning with little attention to the story details such as the particular words, story arrangement and historical – cultural background. We insist that the “Spirit led me” to this or that conclusion. We will take up such claims at another time but the “Spirit led” advocate might also consider; did the Spirit lead scholars to painstakingly elucidate linguistic, semantic, cultural, archeological, and historical details that reveal a quite different meaning? Is it possible that lifetimes of dedicated study revealing the smallest of particular clues hidden for ages in the ancient scrolls or jars in uninhabited places in Israel were “Spirit led”? Perhaps so. These discoveries – if we dare consider it – which are often objective and verifiable Continue reading
Editor’s note: Dr. Kellogg is offering a course in Counseling this semester at NEST.
Most of us don’t give much thought to the topic raised by the title of this article unless we, or someone we love, are faced with a major problem, crisis, or difficulty. Usually, we manage to handle most of life’s problems on our own or with the help of our family, our friends, or a self-help book.
Hopefully, most of us recognize that counseling is something many of us can benefit from at some point in our lives. It’s not just for crazy people anymore! It’s a way for us to gain a new perspective on our problems and to access resources in ourselves, our families, and our communities that can help us solve problems and overcome various difficulties or challenges we may be facing. Continue reading
Racism. Racism can be defined as “prejudging people based on their race or ethnicity.” More expansively, we might say that
Racism is the ranking of people in terms of dignity or value based on their race or ethnicity, and treating them differently as a result.
Racism is incompatible with biblical theology. Prominent passages like Genesis 1-3 (with its affirmation of common human descent under God’s creative hands), Galatians 3:26-29, and Revelation 5:9-10 make that unmistakably clear. Continue reading
Five thousand people on Saturday gathered around a nativity scene in Athens Texas but it wasn’t to worship. A pastor (perhaps many pastors) showed up too but not to preach a typical sermon.
It was understandable, I guess, when the group seemed momentarily taken aback when I opened my Bible and suggested reading “the entire Christmas story.” You see, the night was already winding down at our church home-group meeting, and in the Gospel of Matthew that narrative runs a hefty 48 verses and in Luke it is longer still at 120 verses. No, I assured my friends, I wanted to read the entire Christmas story in one verse. (Well, technically two verses covering one sentence.) Though it does not mention shepherds or wise-men or inns or stables, it is nonetheless profound and compelling.
I’d like to share that verse here and then “unpack” it just a bit, section by section. It comes from the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians, chapter 4 verses 4-5: Continue reading
“What would you think if I sang out of tune, would you stand up and walk out on me?” Most of us know the tune and have probably sung or hummed it, even without thinking. Perhaps in the shower, or just mindlessly thinking about nothing at work or driving, we’ll hum, “Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song and I’ll try not to sing out of key.” And then, even as Christians, we continue with the chorus, “Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends, mm, I get high with a little help from my friends.”
With this Beatles song, however, the meaning of the words are taken out of the original context and given Continue reading
Amid the turkey, family and friends often associated with Thanksgiving, faith is sometimes lost. At Bethel Recovery for Women in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Dr. John DeMassa reminded a small but interested audience – before dinner – how the first Pilgrims and Native Americans gave thanks for a harvest and each other during an autumn day in 1621.
Over the past ten weeks, my New Testament Greek students and I have taken an amazing journey. We’ve been holding class Monday evenings from 6:30-8:30 and have one or two more sessions to go. These students work full time, have families, and ministries (yes, a life!) yet they have been able to work on learning a new language: Koine Greek. Now, this is not your everyday speaking Greek, but what I call the most alive dead language, the language used to write the Gospels and Letters of our New Testament.These students have been able to learn enough to spend two hours this past Monday translating sentences from Greek to English. They worked on sentences straight from the New Testament, such as:
Ἴδε ἡ μήτηρ μου καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοί μου. ὃς γὰρ ἂν ποιήσῃ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ, οὗτος ἀδελφός μου καὶ ἀδελφὴ καὶ μήτηρ ἐστίν.
Our students correctly translated this as:
Behold, my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother (Mark 3:34b-35) Continue reading
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