Well rooted, well winged
For most of us, the biblical canon with its 66 “books” has always been a given, inherited from the past, our parents and churches. We have not concerned ourselves very much with it, even though we may have heard that the Catholic version of the Bible has more “books” in it than the Protestant version. …
‘A rich storehouse of treasure awaiting learners’
Scripture and community were the focus when Mennonite Church B.C. members gathered at Level Ground Mennonite Church in Abbotsford on April 14, 2018, for Reading the Bible Together. Resource person Tim Geddert, a professor of New Testament at Fresno Pacific University’s Biblical Seminary in California, called the Bible a “rich storehouse of treasure awaiting learners.”…
Hermeneutic of hope
Last weekend, I attended a wedding. The bride and groom asked their guests to register by highlighting their favourite verse in a Bible that they will carry into their new, shared life. A few days later, I sat beside my mother’s hospital bed and read to her from Psalm 121. Her long life has been…
A hermeneutic of suspicion
In a previous Family Ties column on sexual ethics (June 19, 2017), I wondered, “Where does the Bible help us [in this regard]? And where is it limited?” As I wrote, I imagined some readers might share my questions, while others would be puzzled, even disturbed, by them. Like many of you, I imbibed Paul’s…
What is ‘good’ and ‘acceptable’?
In a time when western society is rapidly altering its image of marriage and government institutions have legally recognized same-sex marriage, the church is pressed to decide: Shall we follow suit? The church is to discern between the fading form of this passing age and what is “good” and “acceptable” according to God’s will (Romans…
The professionalization factor
I addressed the “priority problem” of Bible reading in the lives of many Christians in my last article. Here, I want to address the “professionalization factor,” which is what happens when Canadian Christians, and there are many of them, look to experts—pastors, priests, scholars—to read, study and unpack the Bible for them. This is not…
The priority problem
Fewer Christians are reading their Bibles today. Not exactly a news flash. The real question is, why are so many of us no longer reading our Bibles? I think there are three primary reasons:
Scripture in the postmodern shift
There are numerous schemas that map out differing views of Scripture. One of the most straightforward suggests everyone believes the Bible is either: fully divine, or
Is the Bible Reliable?
When I was eighteen I participated in a “street evangelism” campaign at the Boston University campus as part of a Bible course I was enrolled in. A few of the BU grad students decided to have a little fun and interrogate us with some questions of their own. We were steamrolled by their merciless intellectual…
Shedding Sola Scriptura
I grew up in a church where everything was painted “Sola Scriptura.” I’m not referring to some chic Greco-Roman inspired hue from Benjamin Moore, but a Latin phrase meaning “Scripture Alone” which coloured the way we saw everything under the sun. “Sola Scriptura” was the primary pillar and doctrinal gatekeeper of Protestant faith. Scripture alone,…
