The Discipleship of Reading: An Opinion

"When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments" - PaulWhat is the relationship of reading and ministry? Or more specifically is there a correlation between reading and preaching and teaching? Should there be a relationship? Is reading an area of discipleship for the minister? I grew up in a tradition that delivered mixed signals regarding ministry and reading. Oh! the rumblings of discontent...

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Reframing the Question: Exercise in Hermeneutics and Grace

I am taking a brief diversion from our mediations on Jesus &  Sabbath to reflect on a question that was put to me the other day. It is not the first time that this question (though perhaps not in the exact same words) has been asked of me. The question is: "Can a person perform worship acts incorrectly, or the wrong acts altogether, and still be pleasing to God?" Another form of this question is "Can a person be baptized for the wrong...

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Jesus, David, Sabbath & Mercy #1: Reading Mat 12

I plan on doing a series of posts related to Matthew 12.1ff on Jesus and the Sabbath. I plan on placing the text in its historical setting first; second I want to place it with in the argument of the Gospel of Matthew (which has a plot just as surely as Romans or Philippians) ; and third I want to see how Jesus' makes use of the material from the Hebrew Bible. I hope to make reading these posts worth the time of everyone. Even if we do not come to the same conclusions regarding it perhaps we will all see it in fresh light.Jesus, David, Sabbath...

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K. C. Moser: Student of the Word

Alister McGrath in his recent outstanding study Christianity's Dangerous Idea asserts Protestantism gift to Christianity was the belief that all people have the right to read and interpret the Scriptures for themselves. This "democratizing agenda" as McGrath terms it (p. 53) is certainly one that the founders of the Stone-Campbell Movement embraced with enthusiasm. These individual readings, over time, became collective readings that were more...

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