I learned as a child this little ditty: “Sticks and stones may break my bones,but names will never hurt me.” The intent was good — to deflect unkind words. The truthfulness of the ditty, however, questionable. What is said can have potent, life-altering impact. And James knows that. Notice these words from James 3: 3 When…

We are working our way through Tom Wright’s new book, Justification: God’s Plan & Paul’s Vision. The book purports to be a response to John Piper’s The Future of Justification, but it is far more than that: it is a brilliant sketch of Wright’s own views. Chp 4 opens with a question that is second…

Kent Sparks’s book God’s Word in Human Words (GWHW) was the subject of a session organized by Peter Enns at the Society of Biblical Literature meeting last November. Dr. Enns has made some of this session available to a broader audience on his blog, starting with his review of GWHW, and continuing with his response…

So far so good: kingdom means community formation through commitment to Jesus. That community brings justice and it ends every form of oppression. Jesus’ kingdom vision will mean a total spiritual and social make-over for Israel. With everything now in place, Jesus takes an about turn, faces his disciples, tells them they’ve got a blurred…

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