I visited Tennessee this week to meet with my PhD supervisor (who is based in Cleveland even though my school is Bangor University, Wales). I had decided this visit that since I was “in the neighborhood” of the origins of the “serpent handler” churches, I’d like to visit the original site: Dolly Pond Church of… Continue reading A Brief Snake Handling Journey
I was just asked how one should deal with the story of the Levite cutting up his gang-raped concubine in Judges 19. Here is my short answer. The ending chapters of Judges function at several levels:1) historical context for the audience who received these stories in this form (the accounts refer to some time 1200-1100… Continue reading Judging Judges: The Cutting of the Concubine
Just a fun post with a short music video because this song got stuck in my head a few days ago after a discussion of the historicity of Joshua and walls of Jericho (Joshua 6). Indeed, when the text of Scripture makes strong historical claims we ought to accept those claims (despite the archeological evidence… Continue reading Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho
I had a conversation with a couple of the ladies in my church today about a symbol that is imprinted into the fabric lining the bottom of our brass offering plates. I had overheard one of them telling the other that “IHS” stood for “In His Service”. Sounds good enough. Makes sense. It would be… Continue reading IHS – What Does It Mean?
As I’ve been lecturing this winter semester (Providence University College) for my course “The Former Prophets” (i.e., Joshua, Judges, 1-2 Samuel, and 1-2 Kings) we’ve had some wonderful discussions about what it means for this portion of Scripture to offer a “history” of Israel. Part of the reason for the course not being called “The… Continue reading The Former Prophets: A Theological History
I was given the following brief account (written by Mrs. Anna Vagle in 1958) of some of the occurrences in 1905-6 in north-western Minnesota when the “winds of the Spirit” began to blow with “Pentecostal power”. It is a marvelous thing to read what God has done in the past…and it makes me long to… Continue reading Pentecost In North West Minnesota
