I was struck by the following comment made by a student from Myanmar who is enrolled in one of my courses: “In my country people are dying because they cannot get the vaccine; in yours people are dying because they will not take it.”
Science for Seminaries at Providence in the Winnipeg Free Press
I was recently interviewed by John Longhurst of the Winnipeg Free Press about the Science for Seminaries Seed Grant that Providence Theological Seminary has recently received. Overall, it’s a positive piece, although I was slightly misrepresented on one point. I mentioned that Augustine, Aquinas, and Calvin were all interested in and acquainted with the best science of their day, not that they were scientists per se. You can read the full article here.
Remembering Rightly: A Sermon for Remembrance Sunday
The following is the text of a sermon I preached at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Winnipeg this past Sunday for Remembrance Sunday. The assigned lectionary readings were: 1 Kings 17:8–16; Psalm 146; Hebrews 9:24–28; Mark 12:38–44.
Continue reading Remembering Rightly: A Sermon for Remembrance Sunday
“The Heresy of Relevance” Published in Pro Ecclesia
The electronic version of my article “The Heresy of Relevance: Bonhoeffer’s Warning to Preachers” has just been published on the Sage Journals website. It will be appearing in print in the February 2022 edition of Pro Eccleisa: A Journal of Catholic and Evangelical Theology. If you have personal or library access to Sage articles, you can read it here. Continue reading “The Heresy of Relevance” Published in Pro Ecclesia
Boersma on How Not to Read Scripture
“I have chosen this passage from Origen because it illustrates that he regards metaphysics and biblical interpretation as closely connected. The way we think about the relationship between God and the world is immediately tied up with the way we read Scripture. This is something easily lost sight of, yet of crucial significance. I suspect we often treat biblical interpretation as a relatively value-free endeavor, as something we’re equipped to do once we’ve acquired both the proper tools (biblical languages, an understanding of how grammar and syntax work, the ability to navigate concordances and computer programs, etc.) and a solid understanding of the right method (establishing the original text and translating it, determining authorship and original audience, studying historical and cultural context, figuring out the literary genre of the passage, and looking for themes and applicability). Such an approach, even when it does recognize the interpreter’s dependence upon the Spirit’s guidance, treats the process of interpretation as patterned on the hard sciences. In other words, the assumption is that the way to read the Bible is by following certain exegetical rules, which in turn are not affected by the way we think of how God and the world relate to each other. Metaphysics, on this assumption, doesn’t affect interpretation. In fact, many will see in the way Origen links metaphysics and exegesis the root cause of why his exegesis is wrongheaded: the Bible ought to be read on its own terms, without an alien, philosophically derived metaphysical scheme being imposed upon it.”1
- Hans Boersma, Scripture as Real Presence: Sacramental Exegesis in the Early Church (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017), 5-6. ↩