Two Notes Re: the Last Issue (7/14) — The transition of my website to a new host and the process of connecting that host with my email distribution service resulted in several emails of the last issue being sent to spam folders. If you did not receive Issue 7/14, “Jesus the Warrior,” in your inbox, you can read the archived copy here. Also, thanks to one sharp-eyed reader, I was made aware of a citation error in paragraph 7 of Issue 7/14. It has been corrected in the archived version....
11 days ago • 5 min read
Opening the Scriptures Then their eyes were opened and they recognized [Jesus], and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” ~ Luke 24.31-32 NIV James, Topical Studies # 2 Enduring Perseverance: A Word Study David Anguish I first recall hearing Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “If,” in John Facenda’s narration of film clips chronicling the rigors of NFL football in the 1960s and...
25 days ago • 7 min read
Jesus the Warrior David Anguish In a notable passage, J. B. Phillips critiqued a caricature of Jesus that, in the phrasing used previously, leans too hard into his “coolness.” After citing two lines of verse — “‘Gentle Jesus, meek and mild / Look upon a little child’” — Phillips asks, Why “mild”? Of all the epithets that could be applied to Christ this seems one of the least appropriate. For what does “mild,” as applied to a person, conjure up to our minds? Surely a picture of someone who...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
Opening the Scriptures Then their eyes were opened and they recognized [Jesus], and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” ~ Luke 24.31-32 NIV James, Topical Studies # 1 Worthless Faith: A Word Study David Anguish We’ll conclude our study of James with a look at three words in the letter that are also significant in other NT texts. The first is μάταιος (mataios),...
about 1 month ago • 7 min read
Is Jesus "Cool"? David Anguish During the 2004 U. S. presidential campaign, I read a column in which the author presented a checklist of items he used to determine who was the “cooler” candidate. Since his list amounted to a series of snapshots of American culture in 2004, I found it notable that one of his criteria was, “It’s cool to love Jesus. It’s not cool to shove religion down the throat of a secular nation” (Scotti 2004). New Testament Christians will want to push back against the...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
Opening the Scriptures Then their eyes were opened and they recognized [Jesus], and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” ~ Luke 24.31-32 NIV Reflections on James # 1 A Review of James David Anguish An expositor of my acquaintance once shared a practice he had adopted—one he learned from the example of an expositor of his acquaintance. Upon the completion of an...
about 2 months ago • 7 min read
Learning from Paul's Method in Colossians David Anguish Passing comments by different authors in my reading for the introduction to a class I’m teaching on Colossians suggested three ideas useful in our response to the syncretism in contemporary culture (for a summary of Colossae’s syncretism, see Arnold 2002, 373–374). First, we should engage in reconnaissance to be more aware of the arguments and methods that are being used in the spiritual war we fight (cf. 2 Cor 10.3). P. T. O’Brien...
2 months ago • 5 min read
Opening the Scriptures Then their eyes were opened and they recognized [Jesus], and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” ~ Luke 24.31-32 NIV Prayers & Encouragement (James 5) # 11 When a Christian Wanders (2) David Anguish The following comments relative to James 5.19–20, quoted in part one of our study, summarize its importance: Helping bring back wayward Christians...
2 months ago • 7 min read
What Open Eyes Must Seek David Anguish A previous study considered the two-stage healing of the blind man recorded in Mark 8.22–26. We noted that, within the context of Mark, the episode illustrates different stages of response to Jesus and growth by his disciples. From this, we learn that, while he does not want us to imitate the response of the Pharisees, neither does he want us to remain in the formative stages of spiritual maturity exhibited by the disciples in the middle section of Mark....
2 months ago • 4 min read