Everyone knows the story of the reindeer with the red nose, who guided Santa’s sleigh at Christmas. Everyone also knows, I think, Charles Dickens’s famous book A Christmas Carol, wherein the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future attempt to…
The issue of abortion is one of the most divisive in modern political discourse. The option for a woman to end a pregnancy has been proclaimed by some to be a basic right, while others have decried it as the…
Through sophisticated statements on social media, certain prominent voices in the evangelical wing of Christendom have revealed their penchant for pitting Jesus’ ethical teaching against that of the Apostle Paul. To elevate what Jesus taught over against what His apostles…
This is the final part of James Renihan’s essay on the scope of theology. Read part one here, and part two here. Scope as a Theological Tool There is another function of scopus, already alluded to, but which now deserves at least brief…
Was Paul Co-Dependent? Reflections on 2 Corinthians for Singles (and the Rest of Us) 2 Corinthians 2:12-13 says something extraordinary. Paul walked away from an open door of ministry in Troas because he couldn’t find Titus. What’s up here? Why…
The Beatitudes, according to Matthew, mark the beginning of Jesus’ public teaching ministry. They are the first things that Jesus emphasized as he proclaimed the Gospel of the Kingdom. Unlike Moses at Mount Sinai, Jesus began his Sermon on the…
At the outset of a difficult topic – pastoral laziness – I want to be clear that my purpose is to encourage both pastors and their congregations. Where conflict arises over the minister’s work ethic, I believe most of the…
This is the second part of James Renihan’s essay on the scope of theology. To read part one, click here. The Scope of the Whole We have already cited the common language of the great English Protestant Confessions, Presbyterian, Independent…
I was once struck by a brief radio address given by a Jewish Rabbi on the morning of Yom Kippur. She spent the whole time allotted to her talking about Isaiah 58 and how it links to the deliverance of…
There are many ways to think about God’s attributes. They can be divided between those that affirm something about God and those that deny something about God, those that are communicable to creatures (i.e. can exist in or be communicated…
