Closing the Canon
Athanasius (296-373 AD) had a remarkable but tumultuous life. His physical appearance was apparently quite striking: he was very short with a dark complexion and black hair. His opponents dubbed…
New Wine & New Wineskins
The 27 books which were eventually included in the New Testament were all produced by the end of the 1st century. The gospel of Mark (which drew heavily upon the…
The Things Fulfilled Among Us
"Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the…
Is Your Bible the Right Size?
Over the last 500 years, Protestants and Catholics have disagreed over the content of the scriptures. The Catholic Bible contains 7 additional Old Testament books: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon,…
Things That Are Hidden
Most Christians own at least one Bible - hopefully one which is frequently read and well- worn. But many would be surprised to learn that the Bible they possess is…
Translation of the Seventy
The last few weeks we've been tracing the formation of the Old Testament. Let's summarize what we've learned so far. The key criterion for inclusion in the sacred writings was…
The Other Joseph
The book of Genesis describes the dramatic story of Joseph, son of Jacob. Sold into slavery by his own brothers, he eventually rose to power in Egypt. But there is…
The Hebrew Canon
Here are the closing words of the Torah: "Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, who did all those miraculous…
The Promised Land
In our last two blogs, we've been exploring the New Exodus theme found throughout the New Testament. The disciples of Jesus were Jews who cherished the grand story of how…
Obedience Unto Life
Every year since 1973, the epic movie The Ten Commandments has aired on network TV at Easter. This film was directed by the legendary Cecil B. DeMille & released in…