Veritas pro Christo et Ecclesia?

Michael Coogan, an OT lecturer at Harvard Divinity School, has recently written an opinion article ostensibly exposing some “shocking” values espoused by the Bible.  While Coogan makes some valid points in this short essay, for the most part, I found his analysis to be a mixed bag at best. As for the good, Coogan makes [...]

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Taking a Deep Breath with a Difficult Text

In Ephesians 4:8, Paul quotes Psalm 68:18: “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.” (NIV) If you flip to Ps.68:18 in your Bible, however, you’ll find that the text reads: “When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train; you received gifts from men” [...]

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Whatever Happened to the Tribe of Simeon?

A friend of mine is taking Dr Douglas Stuart’s OT Survey course at Gordon-Conwell right now and is studying for the final (you can actually access these lectures for free here).  One of the questions on the final is regarding the allotments of land for each tribe.  My friend’s question was regarding whether Benjamin is [...]

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Mercy and Justice in Perfect Harmony

In his book, Defending God: Biblical Responses to the Problem of Evil, James Crenshaw seeks to search the Bible for an adequate response to the problems of evil and “God’s perceived injustice” (p.18).  Here I wish to address the common thread which Crenshaw himself notes as unifying his work: “the abiding tension between justice and [...]

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Five Books for the Five Books

I recently had the privilege of kicking off a series of three classes on the Pentateuch at our church’s training school. I mentioned early in the class that the Pentateuch, (or OT in general), is often among the most challenging portions of the Bible.  Why?  Firstly, the Pentateuch is the oldest portion of the Bible, written in the neighborhood of [...]

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