Lee Harmon's Blog, page 31
March 24, 2014
Book review: Process Theology: Embracing Adventure with God
by Bruce Epperly
★★★★★
Process Theology looks at God as not immutable and eternal, but as temporal and affect-able. It describes a God who is personal, who we can share a relationship with, and who cares about all living things. These are my own words, gleaned from the feelings Epperly’s work left me with.
I confess to feeling ungrounded through half of the book. I had not heard of Process Theology before, and it was ambiguous and difficult for me to pin down. Epperly’s approach is to prance aro...
March 23, 2014
Judges 11:34, Human Sacrifice to Yahweh
When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing; and she was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter.
//One of the more troubling, and thus passionate, debates among scholars is whether or not Israelites at one time sacrificed children to their god, Yahweh. The practice is roundly condemned by the prophet Jeremiah, and the book of Numbers indicates that a person guilty of human sacrifice is to be stoned. Ye...
March 21, 2014
Deuteronomy 21:15-17, God Breaks the Law
If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated: Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn: But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginnin...
March 20, 2014
Genesis 7:5, Ready for the Noah Movie? Part II of II
And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.
//Noah was a pretty special guy in scripture. He’s listed by Ezekiel as one of the three most righteous men ever (see Ezekiel 14:11). But the story of Noah does contain some oddities. Here is a look back at some questions I’ve tackled before:
What’s with that raven who just flew in circles?
http://www.dubiousdisciple.com/2013/12/genesis-87-why-the-raven-failed.html
Is the rainbow a miracle?
March 19, 2014
Genesis 7:7, Ready for the Noah Movie? Part I of II
And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
//The story of Noah and the flood has inspired more than a few of my posts in the past. Want to catch up a little in anticipation of the upcoming Noah movie? Here are a few of the theological puzzles this story presents. Tomorrow, we’ll look back at a few oddities in the story.
Did the flood kill everybody on earth?
March 18, 2014
Book review: How Do We Know? An Introduction to Epistemology
by James K. Dew Jr. and Mark W. Foreman
★★★★★
How do we know what we think we know? Dare we claim to know anything at all about God, or can we speak only about what we believe? Is it time to throw up in our hands and give in to postmodernism?
Don’t buy this book looking for an argument for the existence of God. That’s not the focus. This is a very good introduction to epistemology, with only a light Christian tint. Until the final pages, little is said about knowledge of God, and when we do get...
March 17, 2014
Galatians 4:28, Paul Steals the Inheritance
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
//In the Old Testament, Abraham had two children: Isaac, who became the father of the Jews, and Ishmael, who became the father of the Arabs. So we have the Jews, the “children of promise,” and we have the Gentiles, the son of a bondswoman (an illegitimate wife).
Abraham, according to God’s instruction, sends Ishmael and his mother off into the desert with nothing, and gave everything to Isaac.
Paul, writing to the Galatians, begins to...
March 16, 2014
2 Kings 3:26-27, Does Human Sacrifice Work?
When the king of Moab saw that the battle had gone against him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they failed. Then he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him as a sacrifice on the city wall. The fury against Israel was great; they withdrew and returned to their own land.
//This story in the Bible presents a theological puzzle. Moab is losing a war against Israel, so the king of Moab makes a strategic decision: he...
March 15, 2014
Book review: Holistic Spirituality: Life Transforming Wisdom from the Letter of James
by Bruce G. Epperly
★★★★
“Faith without works is dead.” This may be the most notable phrase in the epistle of James. Bruce Epperly would agree, describing the practical teachings of James as “holistic,” grounded in God’s generous care for each of us.
We don’t know who James felt he was correcting with this epistle, but presumably there were some early followers of Jesus who were so “heavenly minded that they were no earthly good.” James sets them straight, reminding them of their responsibility...
March 14, 2014
Genesis 37:3-4, The Coat of Many Colors
Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.
//Here’s a confusing story. Why did this coat of many colors irritate Joseph’s brothers so much? They were so incensed about this coat that they could not even speak a friendly word to him.
One day Joseph came to his brothers out...
