Jesus was a Jewish man. Despite this fact, for centuries Jesus has been depicted in western art with features more indicative of northern European ancestry. And what’s really interesting is that nobody seems to have a problem with this. Nor is northern European ancestry the one exception. Jesus is regularly illustrated in the terms of […]
Jesus Christ
Does Christianity need a resurrected Jesus?
The other day I posted the following survey on Twitter: If the physical bones of Jesus were disinterred in Jerusalem, would it follow that Christianity is false? — Tentative Apologist (@RandalRauser) November 2, 2017 The results were not surprising. A full 75% of those surveyed — both Christians and non-Christians — believe that Christianity requires […]
Being the Right Kind of Fool for Christ Ain’t Easy
This morning I saw the following Atonin Scalia quote (with a few missing words) in my Twitter feed: Boom! pic.twitter.com/By4qSbD7o2 — Dr. Michael L. Brown (@DrMichaelLBrown) February 20, 2017 Before we get started, we need to confirm this quote. The practice of incorrectly attributing fanciful quotes to public figures — Mark Twain, Yogi Berra, Winston […]
The depth of current atonement debates in a tweet
Jesus died for our sins. On that much Christians agree. But ask what it means to say he died for our sins, and deep fissures of disagreement quickly emerge. If you ever want a capsule summary of how deeply entrenched the current debate is, you need look no further than this tweet from Brian Zahnd: According to Zahnd, the temple sacrificial system was […]
89. What did the cross achieve? Oliver Crisp on Atonement
In 1973 the great Reformed theologian J.I. Packer delivered a very influential Tyndale Lecture titled “What did the cross achieve? The logic of penal substitution.” In that address Packer eloquently summarized and defended a theory of atonement which has been so influential in the western church that many Christians have simply identified atonement with penal substitution. […]
86. Making Sense of the Incarnation: A Conversation with Timothy Pawl
In 1977 John Hick published The Myth of God Incarnate, an edited collection of essays by leading scholars which fell like a bomb on the playground of British theology. The objections to the incarnation presented by the contributors to that book were many, but perhaps the most incisive was presented by Hick himself as he railed […]
Did Jesus know absolutely everything?
Don’t ever say I shy away from the hard questions. Here’s a slide from my upcoming lecture on fifth century Christology:
Easter and the Resurrection to Judgment
This morning at our Easter service the pastor quoted Frederick Buechner: “Resurrection means the worst thing is never the last thing.” It’s a great quote which eloquently summarizes the Christian hope in resurrection. In other words, Christ as the firstfruits of resurrection provides the down-payment for that future resurrection that will embrace all God’s people. Thus, […]
The Wrath of God was Satisfied: A Passion Week Sermon
God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself (2 Corinthians 5:19). But how, exactly? This is a great question to ask as we enter another Passion Week. In this sermon, originally delivered at Lendrum Mennonite Brethren Church in Edmonton, AB, I discuss the penal substitution theory of atonement. According to this theory, the atonement consisted of […]
Why Jesus was NOT “tempted” (and why it matters)
The following is a repost of an article originally published at The Christian Post in 2009. * * * In their trials and temptations many Christians have drawn strength from Hebrews 4:15: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been […]
If homosexuals are “sodomites” what does that make the rest of us?
Our story begins this past Saturday when I published an article called “Why do conservative Christians think everything is getting worse?” In the article I pointed out that the data is, at best, ambiguous and that much of it indicates broad societal improvement over the last two centuries and more. Alan Kurschner took issue with […]
Is the light of the cross brightened by the flickering flames of hell?
A reader sent me the following excerpt from an article by Tim Keller on the doctrine of hell and asked me to comment. (The full article is available here.) So here’s the excerpt with my comments to follow: 4. The doctrine of hell is important because it is the only way to know how much […]
How many wrong beliefs did Jesus have?
In a recent blog post I discussed the question of theistic evolution and the beliefs of first century Jews about the creation narrative. There I argued that the inconsistency between the beliefs of those individuals, even of Jesus himself, and evolution is not an insuperable problem to an evolutionary account of human origins. As I […]
Can Jesus make a better Caesar salad than my wife?
An earlier version of this article was posted at The Christian Post in 2009. Yesterday I was at the dinner table with my wife and daughter eating a tasty meal. As I crunched the crispy romaine lettuce dressed with croutons, parmesan cheese, lemon juice and the rest, I exclaimed to my daughter, “Nobody can make […]
