I recently preached a short homily on Psalm 46. The following are my notes on the Psalm, divided in the historical context, literary context, theological insights, and contemporary application. Historical Context The superscription of the psalm says, “To the choirmaster. A psalm of the sons of Korah, set to Alamoth. A song” (NASB). The sons of Korah were Levites …
I’ve been reading a book by Rodney Stark called “The Rise of Christianity.” Stark is a sociologist by training, so he approaches the subject from this perspective. He traces the rise of Christianity during the first few centuries AD. There are a number of points he makes that are thought-provoking for our present context. Stark notes that the Roman culture …
Today is Reformation Day! On October 31, 1517 a young German monk named Martin Luther nailed his “95 Thesis” to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. He meant to call for a debate on abusive church practices regarding the sale of indulgences, but this particular debate never came. Instead, Luther’s challenge to the church began to …
This is the conclusion and summary to my review of Zealot by Reza Aslan. If you don’t want to read through the more in-depth installments, then this post will summarize it for you. One of the main problems with Aslan’s book is that there’s really nothing new in it. There’s no new scholarship, no real citations, and no strong analytical …
This is the fourth installment of my review of Zealot, by Reza Aslan. You can find the previous installments here: http://lutheranchronicles.com/review-of-zealot-first-installment/ http://lutheranchronicles.com/review-of-zealot-second-installment/ http://lutheranchronicles.com/review-of-zealot-third-installment/ I’ve already covered Parts I and II of Aslan’s book, so this installment begins with Aslan’s prologue to Part III. Most of his prologue is centered around the martyrdom of the disciple Stephen, mentioned in Acts 6 …
This is the third installment of my review of Zealot, by Reza Aslan. You can find the first and second installments here: http://lutheranchronicles.com/review-of-zealot-first-installment/ http://lutheranchronicles.com/review-of-zealot-second-installment/ The second installment covered Part I of the book, and this installment begins with Aslan’s prologue to Part II. In his prologue to Part II, Aslan tries to paint Jesus as a “zealot,” using the word …
This is the second installment of my review of Zealot, by Reza Aslan. You can find the first installment here: http://lutheranchronicles.com/review-of-zealot-first-installment/ I previously covered the general premise of the book as well as the Author’s Note and Introduction, so I’ll now begin again at the prologue to “Part I” of the book. Aslan’s prologue is focused on the role of …
There’s been a lot on the news lately about a new book called Zealot, written by Reza Aslan. I’ve decided to review and split it up into multiple parts due to space (as well as the fact that I’ll be writing the review as I read the book). This installment of the review covers the Author’s Note and Introduction portions …
This continues the previous list with some additional thoughts. 11. Sometimes bad people win and good people suffer As a kid, I grew up watching cowboy movies where the good guys always win and the bad guys always lose. But, in real life this is not always the case. In fact, many times the opposite seems to occur. We’ve all …
I was thinking about this topic while jogging yesterday morning and decided to write them down. These “things I learned (or was taught) growing up” deal mainly with what you could call “First Article” issues, meaning how life in this world works, although there are a few exceptions. I don’t claim to fulfill all these things perfectly, but I thought …