By the time we get to Revelation 18:20, the beast-riding woman from chapter 17 is promised for swift destruction in a futile attempt at war against God.  And so we come to this: 

Rejoice over her, O ...

Yahweh was passing by.
     Before him a raging wind 
          digging into the mountain, 
               throwing rocks everywhere.
     Yahweh was not in the wind, 
          so, after the wind, an ear...

5. Certainly there was Some Joy in the Roman Empire. Without it, Evangelism would be Impossible.

            We are leading to the notion that the culture of the Roman Empire was rather dour, but bef...

4. A Government and Society and Culture that Thwarts “Joy.”

            What about the Roman Empire? Beard wrote a chapter titled “The Haves and Have-nots” that makes clear the great disparity betwee...

3. A Way to Understand “Joy” that Avoids the Tangle of Vocabulary.

As we seek to discuss the concept of “joy,” we will not seek a definition, but we will seek a way to operationalize the concept. I h...

One of the biggest problems when reading the Book of Revelation (the Apocalypse) is that Christians too often don't have any kind of historical sense about apocalyptic thinking or apocalyptic literatu...

2. Seeking to Understand “Joy.”

What is joy? We would like to know how joyful the society and the individual people were. The problem with this question is finding a good definition of “joyful.” Mayb...

1. Could People in the Roman Empire Trust One Another?

In the New Testament we find few professions (or occupations) mentioned. The first of these few to come to mind is that of Paul, Priscilla, and ...

I talked about Supportive Engagement in a previous post. I would like to build on those comments now. It is very interesting to contrast two types of conversation: 

supportive engagement
and passive-...

Part 1  /  Part 2  /  Part 3  /  Part 4

I say again: I believe in the inspiration of our scriptures!  But that is not the same thing as saying "only our scriptures are inspired." This is a knotty pro...

Part 1  /  Part 2  /  Part 3  /  Part 4

I believe in the inspiration of our scriptures!  I believe it so strongly, that I feel the need to bring my very best thinking to the topic. I also believe in ...

Part 1  /  Part 2  /  Part 3  /  Part 4

Of course, many will regard what I wrote in Part 1 as incredibly "weak." I have a very dear preacher friend who feels I'm somehow leaving God out, and that I r...

Part 1  /  Part 2  /  Part 3  /  Part 4

Q: Is "Biblical Inspiration" like Ulysses S. Grant Writing His Memoirs? 

A reader has asked this legitimate and quite serious question. I'll include his full ...

Book Review (by Dr. Mike Parker)

I recently came across a book authored by Nicholas Taleb by the title of The Black Swan.  The title describes a highly improbable event.  When you are asked to think ...

While reading in the LXX (Septuagint: the Greek OT), I ran across a Proverb, and I thought of a dear friend. He is currently tending to his father (grave in illness), to his own family, and to the chu...

Just in case you haven't seen the "4 Decisions" video yet, the billing on it is correct:  it could literally change your Bible reading life.  This might challenge you; it certainly invites you. 

To s...

It is very sad to say that, among Christians, "blenderizing the Bible" is the most popular method on the planet for reading the Bible . 

The point here is not that we cannot compare biblical texts; t...

Easter eggs, bunnies, pastel colors, family gatherings. I'm not here to decry any of these fun things. And my title is not about removing such things from the holiday. It goes a little deeper than tha...

This post is about logging in so that you can make comments to posts in this Blog.  It is not talking about logging in to the website per se. 

In order to make comments on these blog posts, you must ...

With this post, the IABC blog, Biblical Conversation, begins a new phase. The intention is to begin posting weekly from this point on. If you will Subscribe to this Blog (in the sidebar), we'll notify...

Reading the Bible Is not Rocket Science.  Or Is It?

By now it is an old statement, but every once in a while, someone still makes it:  “You don’t have to be a scholar to read the Bible.”

Well, of co...

Does the Bible Even Belong in This Discussion?

In the 1951 movie, People Will Talk, Cary Grant (as a medical doctor)  makes the following rather bleak  statement: "If old Mother Nature had her way, t...

(This post was originally a private letter to a friend. It has been modified for this post.)

Especially in times like ours, with all the serious concern over life and quality of life, I want to thank...