Category: Bible/Interpretation

Explosive Truth

May 5, 2025

I was 21 years old. I was in the honeymoon period of my newfound faith. I still remember how exciting it was reading my new Study Bible. Everything was new. I had highlighter in hand. Underlining relevant passages. Pondering remarkable truths. I get emotional pulling out that old Bible, and remembering the moment I first underlined this or that passage. God was speaking to me. I was reading His love letters and falling deeper in love with my Savior. … More Explosive Truth

Jesus is Our Counter Narrative

October 29, 2024

Scot McKnight reviews Drew Strait’s book advocating for a Christocentric hermeneutic to counter Christian nationalism in the U.S. Strait argues that many Christians misinterpret the Bible for ideological support, advocating instead for a Jesus-centered lens that emphasizes love and peace. This approach resists the spirals of violence pervasive in current narratives. … More Jesus is Our Counter Narrative

What about the Other Boats?

June 20, 2024

I love reading familiar Bible stories with an eye for the odd and often missed detail that invites further inquiry. In the beloved story of Jesus calming the storm, we jump right over one strange detail and focus on the storm, the frightened disciples, Jesus sleeping on the cushion, and his divine power over the sea. But what ever happened to the “other boats” that set out on the seas with Jesus that stormy night? Buckle up. … More What about the Other Boats?

The Untamed Word

May 9, 2024

As much as Evangelicals talk about having a personal relationship with Jesus, many of us in practice have more of a personal relationship with the Bible. Does God stand wild and free behind, above, beneath, and around the text, poised to pounce and prod us by the Spirit? Or, like Thomas Jefferson, do we stand over the text, combing it for principles we admire, while denying the presence of the supernatural? … More The Untamed Word

Gold, Honey & Jesus

February 27, 2024

The most important interpretive decision I ever made was to let Jesus be God’s definitive and final Word. He is my north star. He is my hermeneutic. Echoing C. S. Lewis, Jesus guides my reading of Scripture not only because I see Jesus in the text, but because by Jesus I have come to see everything else in a new light. … More Gold, Honey & Jesus

My Problem with the Bible (Brian Zahnd)

October 9, 2020

One of the most remarkable things about the Bible is that in it we find the narrative told from the perspective of the poor, the oppressed, the enslaved, the conquered, the occupied, the defeated. This is what makes it prophetic. We know that history is written by the winners. This is true — except in the case of the Bible it’s the opposite! … More My Problem with the Bible (Brian Zahnd)

The Story

February 21, 2020

The greatest tragedy that has befallen Western Christianity over the past few hundred years is the chopping up of the drama of biblical story into cold and sterile propositional truth claims. If there’s one gift I’d love to give everyone I meet or minister to, it is the gift of grasping the Big Story of the Bible in narrative form and the thrill of discovering their unique place in the unfolding plot. … More The Story

Farewell to the Rapture (N.T. Wright)

April 4, 2018

This is a classic piece by N.T. Wright re-examining the meaning of some biblical texts in their Jewish context that have been hijacked by other interpretive schemes over the years. From Bible Review, August 2001, reprinted at NTWrightPage. Little did Paul know how his colorful metaphors for Jesus’ second coming would be misunderstood two millennia later. … More Farewell to the Rapture (N.T. Wright)

THE BIBLE: Revelation of God’s Majesty

February 15, 2018

In this series of posts we’re exploring the different ways the Bible confronts the reader and the appropriate response to each. #3 – THE BIBLE AS REVELATION OF GOD’S MAJESTY Christians often take the mind-blowing fact of God’s self-revelation for granted. Our faith stands or falls on the foundational belief that God has stooped to … More THE BIBLE: Revelation of God’s Majesty