Author Archives: Rick Wadholm

How NOT to Interpret the OT Law

The Resurgence has posted The Beginner’s Guide to Interpreting Old Testament Law and offered the commonly received Reformed categorization of the Torah as ceremonial, civil and moral. The problem is that this is an external distinction not found in the … Continue reading

Posted in Interpretation, Law | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Talking Smack: The Bible Way

Luke Geraty just blogged about “talking smack” in video games, which brought to my mind some of the “Biblical” smack-talk that I have found humorous over the years. Here is a small sampling: Philistine smack talk: “Come on,” said the … Continue reading

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Do We Really Need the Old Testament?

As someone who serves as an Instructor in Old Testament at one college (Providence University College and Theological Seminary) and an Assistant Professor whose primary focus is in Old Testament at another college (Trinity Bible College), this question has significant … Continue reading

Posted in Old Testament, Providence Theological Seminary, Trinity Bible College | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Asking for Blessing or Giving Thanks?

In a recent conversation, I noted a particular question that was posed about “blessing the food” when we gather to eat. Here are my reflections: We do not ask for the food to be blessed, per se, but we bless … Continue reading

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A Day To Celebrate?

Today was my final worship service with the congregation I have loved and served for the last decade. And it was exactly the kind of day I wanted to share with my church family: our annual church at the lake. … Continue reading

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Why Am I Still Preaching? A Conversation

Steve Swan (a friend who pastors in Winnipeg) nails it: Why Am I Still Preaching?. I’ve said something similar in a paper I presented for the Society for Pentecostal Studies that has been picked up for an edited volume in … Continue reading

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Rediscovering the Mission of God in Scripture

The following is what I will be presenting and handing out for a family camp I’m speaking at tomorrow morning. What would you say if you were asked to speak on the topic of giving a brief (hour and a … Continue reading

Posted in Christopher Wright, Mission of God, N. T. Wright | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Free eBook for prospective and active seminarians

A free book for seminarians (or those soon to be).

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Playing with Gadamer

“What man needs is not just the persistent posing of ultimate questions, but the sense of what is feasible, what is possible, what is correct, here and now.” (Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method [trans. Joel Weinsheimer and Donald Marshall; 2nd … Continue reading

Posted in Gadamer, Hermeneutics, Interpretation | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

On Hebrew Poetics (A Brief Introduction and Refutation)

Suffice it to say that one spends several years learning basic skills in reading and interpreting the Hebrew Bible, but then after all the “rules” one learns (whether those passed down from Medieval Masoretes or ancient scholastics schooled in Greek … Continue reading

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