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Christmastide
Yesterday, the 12 days of Christmas in the church’s liturgical calendar ended. Today starts Epiphany in the church’s liturgical calendar. During Christmastide, I read the book, Christmas: The Season of Life and Light, by Emily Hunter McGowin. This is another book from the Fullness of Time Series covering the church’s liturgical year. Advent is a
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It is Advent, Not Christmas
The church’s liturgical year begins in December. The beginning of the new year is called “Advent (from Latin adventus, “coming”), in the Christian church calendar, the period of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas and also of preparation for the Second Coming of Christ.” ref: https://www.britannica.com/. In the book,
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Bad Religion
I finished reading What Jesus Intended: Finding True Faith in the Rubble of Bad Religion by Todd D. Hunter. I think that the book succeeds at identifying several of the reasons people are running away from Christianity. Some have experienced hurt and abuse in the Church. Some have experienced judgmentalism and hypocrisy. Some have experienced
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History of Dispensationalism
I grew up adjacent to Brethren congregations and their dispensational teaching deeply integrated into all of the different congregations across various denominations in my hometown. After leaving my hometown, I attended mainly non-denominational “Bible” churches that were steeped in dispensational teaching. When I chose a seminary to attend, I chose the leading dispensational seminary, Dallas
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Surviving the American South
I was first introduced to Dr. Esau McCaulley in 2020 as I listened to a new podcast called the The Disrupters: Faith Changing Culture produced by Intervarsity Press. Esau McCaulley was the host of this podcast. My initial responses to Esau were not positive. I argued with him in my thoughts. At first, I was
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Season of Pentecost
Pentecost: A Day of Power for All People by Emilio Alvarez is the second book in the Fulness of Time series that discusses the church’s liturgical calendar. Of all of the major seasons in the church calendar, Pentecost season is lesser known and lesser observed. The Day of Pentecost is observed with special events, but,
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Revelation In Real-Time
I just finished reading the book, Revelation for the Rest of Us: A Prophetic Call to Follow Jesus as a Dissident Disciple, by Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett. It is not a commentary, but is a 60,000 foot review of the book of Revelation. It challenges the recent (nineteenth century) predictive readings of the book
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The Elegant Universe
Normally, I have two books I am reading at one time. One book is for fun. This usually includes legal, spy or detective stories or history books. The other book is for deep or challenging thinking and usually is in the realm of theology or science. Inspired by the son of the pastor next door
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Not All Birds Are Hydrangeas
Kristin is really interested in discovering the names of flowers, trees, insects, animals and birds. My capacity to care about most of their names is limited. Often when we hike, Kristin will first ask me what flower or bird we see. In Ireland, I just started answering “hydrangea,” which really meant I had no clue.
