Lee Harmon's Blog, page 16

Book review: The Bible Tells Me So

by Peter Enns

★★★★★

Fantastic book! If you’ve ever wondered how to read the Bible like Jesus, here’s your answer in a fun, easy-to-read publication. Peter Enns takes you on a walk through the Bible, pointing out how impossible it is to read it as either a history book or a rulebook. Eventually, he winds up in the New Testament giving examples of how Jesus himself interpreted scripture in his day … the Jewish way, which emphasized creative engagement with the scriptures.

Says Peter, “I believe Go...

Book Excerpt: John’s Gospel: The Way It Happened

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“Isn’t that Jesus?”

“Where?”

“There.” The man pointed. “At the back of the synagogue. Standing at the head of that band of strangers.”

“I see him.” The president smiled, an old man, shoulders bowed and smallish, face crafted over the years into wrinkly, gentle jolliness. “Yes, it’s Jesus, son of Joseph! Let’s ask him to be our reader today.”

The Teacher, noting the conversation at the front of the synagogue, stepped forward without waiting for an invitation. He expected this, the appropriate hono...

Mark 6:22-24, Who Wanted John the Baptist Dead?

And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee. And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom. And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.

//You’ve been reading the account of John the Baptist’s death in the book of Mark. Joh...

Book review: That Old Devil Called God Again

by Archbishop Jonathan Blake

★★★

For an author who writes that he “intends [his] book to be positive and enlightening,” this book is disturbingly negative. Its raw, take-no-prisoners tone dares you to knock the chip off Jonathan Blake’s shoulder.

Blake is the Archbishop who isn’t. He escaped from the Anglican Church and says he holds on to the title of Archbishop “only to provide a platform to ridicule its pretentiousness and to lay siege to the power systems it has spawned.”

So you aren’t going...

Matthew 22:7, The King’s Wedding

But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

//One day, Jesus told a parable about a king who planned a wedding feast for his son. He sent his servants to gather those who had been invited. But nobody wanted to come; they made light of the wedding and continued on with their lives.

So, says Jesus, the king sent his armies and destroyed the “murderers” (why were they called murderers?) and burned up their ci...

Matthew 9:7, New Wine in Old Bottles

Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish

//For readers of the King James Version (which I grew up on), this verse can be confusing. Why would wine burst the bottles, whether old or new?

Answer: Think not of glass bottles, but wineskins. Most translations preserve the original message, such as the NIV:

Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the win...

Mark 10:18, Why do you call me good?

And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.”

//Every now and then this verse comes up in a conversation. It’s from the gospel of Mark, a gospel that is often gritty, giving Jesus a more human face than the other three. In this verse, Jesus seems to be denying that he is good … and certainly denying that he is God.

Seldom will a conservative Christian read this verse straightforwardly. Instead, they see Jesus as presenting a sort of puzzle. “You say I’m good...

Book review: Calvin for Armchair Theologians

Calvin for

Armchair Theologians

by Christopher Elwood

★★★★

This is another book in the Armchair Theologians series provided to me by Logos Bible Software for review. I found this one just a little more dry than other books in the series–more of a “just the facts, ma’am” presentation–but it did warm up nearer the end. For someone looking for a quick intro to Calvin, his life and very basic theology, this is a handy little book.

In some ways, Calvin gets a bum rap. Followers through the years have...

Exodus 20:26, Beware the Stairs!

‘Nor shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.’

//In Israel in the temple courtyard was an altar for sacrifice. Have you ever seen pictures of this altar, artists’ imagination of what it must have looked like? Have you ever seen a picture without stairs going up the altar?

One wonders if all these renditions of the Temple are accurate. Presumably, the priests–who wore robes, not slacks–were not to approach the top of the altar by stairway. It was appare...

Exodus 32:14, God Repents

And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

//Here’s the story: Moses goes up on a mountain to talk with God, and while they’re busy up there, Israel turns to idolatry. Their leader and their god have gone missing, so a golden calf becomes their new god. When God quits talking to Moses and notices what is going on down there, he threatens to destroy everyone by fire.

But Moses talks gently with God, appealing to God’s reputation and sense of honor. If God gives in...