Sep 26, 2014
While the early decades of the church’s history were hardly easy, they were nevertheless filled with optimism: Jesus was risen!
But…, as the decades passed, questions about Jesus’s delay began to mount. And with the disastrous events of 70 AD (the destruction of Jerusalem, the fall of the second Temple and the...
Sep 25, 2014
No biblical book inspires a broader spectrum of interpretation than the book of Revelation. Filled with symbols that range from multi-headed dragon to streets of gold, from doomsday battles and the mark of the beast to the New Jerusalem, the Apocalypse (literally the “revealing”) is meant to guide the church in...
Sep 17, 2014
Paul’s teaching on the role of wives and slaves in the Christian household are among the most (tragically!) misinterpreted passages in scripture. In this episode we examine the tension between ideals and reality, between what is ultimately true and how close (or not) we can approximate it at any particular moment...
Sep 14, 2014
If, as Paul argues, salvation is by grace alone (a gift of God and not achieved by any act on our part), what does that imply for Christian ethics? Can we therefore “sin boldly” — indulge our impulses and enjoy the party…? I mean, if all is forgiven in the end, why not make good […]
Understanding the Bible 41: What Must I Do to Be Saved? Or Why We Are All Semi-Pelagianists at Heart
Sep 12, 2014
Every philosophical and religious tradition has a view on the requirements of membership – what it takes to belong to the community of “salvation.” In early Judaism, for example, membership within “true Israel” belonged to those who were at least: descended from Abraham, circumcised (men), obedient to...