Category: Reflections
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Jesus, the Failed Messiah
The term “messiah” is something of a transliteration of the Hebrew term “meshiach” and means “anointed one.” In the history of Israel, the anointed one could be a prophet, priest, or king. The one anointed had olive oil poured over their head, representing the spirit of God coming upon them. With the advent of King…
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Biblical Apocalyptic Prophecy
A Brief Word on Ancient Apocalyptic Literature Ancient apocalyptic literature was a recognizable and influential genre, somewhat analogous in cultural function to science fiction books in the 1980s and 1990s, finding their myths, legends, and stories into almost everyone’s home at some point in one way or another. Like science fiction, apocalyptic literature was riveting,…
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Biblical Worldviews
The Problem with a Narrow Scope on the Bible Some time ago, I was in a class at a church I was attending, wherein the biblical worldview was compared and contrasted with various other worldviews. I found it curious on several counts that the Bible was purported to espouse one worldview and that the view…
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Thinking, I Am: Unpacking the Cartesian Cogito
Towards an Ontological Understanding of the Existence of the Personal Identity as the Self by Means of the Function of Thinking Summary This essay seeks to unpack the Cartesian cogito, demonstrating that within it lie the conditions of existence for the subjective personal identity as the self in virtue of the function of the thinking…
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A Brief List of 95 Bad Words, Terms, and Phrases of the Bible
Abaddon (Hebrew: אֲבַדּוֹן; Greek: Ἀβαδδών)Job 26:6; 31:12; Proverbs 15:11; Revelation 9:11Originating in the Hebrew and transliterated into Greek and then into English, the term “abaddon” means “ruin or destruction” but as a proper name it can mean “place of destruction” or “Destroyer.” It may be similar to Orcus, who, like Hades, was an ancient god…
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A Wide Open Canon
Biblical Particularity, Transcendence, and Diversity The Bible is a particular book for a particular people at a particular time in a particular place. The timeless wisdom latent within its pages, however, also transcends its particularity so that it can stand the test of time, bearing upon various diverse sociocultural contexts wherein it might breathe afresh…
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American Evangelical Politics and the Politics of Jesus
American evangelical politics seems to be a movement about establishing the kingdom of God on earth right here and right now, especially with the current presidential administration. While heavily publicized as a predominantly White movement of various hues and shades across the spectrum from White nationalists to White “fragilists,” there are apparently some nonWhite individuals…
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Service, Humility, and Self-Care
Service is one of those admirable actions that individuals across cultures and people groups take to be of a highest good. It is the greatest way in which to demonstrate love, care, compassion. It is the greatest way in which to honor and elevate another. It is the greatest way in which to establish the…
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Jesus’ Joke at the Empty Tomb
Imagine you are there, as Mary Magdalene, at the empty tomb of Jesus, looking for the body of Jesus. The very one you had been following for so long, who was only crucified, killed, and entombed some three days prior, is now nowhere to be found. To be sure, a number of keen observations and…
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The Tearing of the Veil
“The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Mark 15:38, NIV). I have heard many a preacher proclaim that the rending of the temple curtain in the Gospels at the moment when Jesus dies is a declaration of the movement of the presence of God’s Spirit from hiddenness behind the…
