How Jesus Read the Bible

How many wars, conflicts, and confrontations could be avoided if we truly lived according to Jesus’ insistence that violence and vengeance are not God’s ways at any level (individual, communal, national, and international)? When will we ever learn that it is blasphemy to call upon God to do violence for us or to bless our violence against others even in the cause of patriotism? Continue reading

The Greatest Commandment

Jesus was asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” All three of the Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, and Luke) report the conversation between Jesus and the scribe/lawyer who asked the question. It’s intriguing to compare these three accounts (Mark 12:28-34; Matthew 22:34-40; and Luke 10:25-28). I would assume that Jesus often… Continue reading

Quadrilateral: Scripture (Part 1)

[In the Sunday school class I teach, we recently discussed the Wesleyan Quadrilateral as a model for building one’s theology. In our post-modern world, individual Christians need a theology that is appropriate as we attempt to live in ways that are faithful to the good news of Jesus Christ as… Continue reading