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The Good Book Blog, a resource from the faculty of Talbot School of Theology, features articles that explore contemporary ideas from the perspective of the Bible the Good Book including topics such as apologetics, biblical studies, theology, philosophy, spiritual formation, ministry and leadership. Find out more about what sets Talbot apart and how it prepares Christian leaders through its degree programs.

 

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  • William Lane Craig — 

    In the news I notice that the BICEP2 project has released some data that measures the polarization of the cosmic background radiation due to gravitational waves in the very first instances of the universes existence. Physicists seem to be getting excited as they claim it supports the multiverse theory. I am not familiar with the mathematics that underpins cosmogony so I was wondering if you had any comments on a few of their claims.

  • Scott Rae — 

    Though the New Testament is not a textbook on economics, it was immersed in a particular economic environment and much of the New Testament teaching had implications for economic life. In the New Testament, Jesus takes up right where the Old Testament prophets left off. Care for the poor was just as important to Jesus as it was to the prophets. When the followers of John the Baptist (who was in prison at the time) asked Jesus if He was indeed the Messiah who was to come, He answered in terms that could have been taken right out of the prophets. He put it like this, Go back to John (the Baptist) and tell him what you have seen and heardthe blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are being raised to life and the good news is being preached to the poor (Matt. 11:4-5). The evidence that Jesus was who He claimed to be was not only that He did miracles, but who were the beneficiaries of those miracles were: the poor, marginalized and vulnerable. Similarly, when He spoke of final judgment and what would separate His true followers from the pretenders, He made it clear that how someone treats the poor is a critical indication of a persons spiritual maturity. This is likely what Jesus meant when He said that, I tell you the truth, when you did it to the least of these my brothers, you were doing it to me (referring to feeding the hungry and taking in the needy, Matt. 25:40).

  • William Lane Craig — 

    Dr. Craig, I'm an atheist and I've long followed your debates. Though I'm not moved by your arguments I think you present and defend them well. One of these arguments, the fine tuning argument, seems to be quite presumptuous in it's attempt to explain life. It seems to me that it skips quite a few steps to land at a conclusion that life is an ultimate goal of the universe ...http://www.reasonablefaith.org/rr

  • The Good Book Blog — 

    Dave Talley, professor of biblical and theological studies at Talbot, just released the new book, The Story of the Old Testament. He graciously took some time to answer a few questions about the book.

  • Ben Shin — 

    Recently, a friend contacted me and asked for a resource in pre-marital counseling that would be specific to some of the unique cultural needs of an Asian-American couple. I thought about this for a while and realized that I was not familiar with such a curriculum. I explained to him that I typically use material by Family Lifes Dennis and Barbara Rainey and add my own insights on some of the challenges for Asian-Americans in preparing to get married. This first blog will summarize some of those insights ...

  • William Lane Craig — 

    Hello Dr. Craig, I hope you are fine. I have theological objections to your proposition that an infinite regression of events into the past is impossible. I adhere to a particular Islamic denomination and my denomination doesn't accept the view that it's impossible for there to be an infinite regression of events into the past...

  • William Lane Craig — 

    Dear Dr. Craig, My question is on objective morality. I lead a Christian life group of 11th and 12th graders, where I often use apologetics to show them that belief in God, specifically Christianity, is not only the true religion, but also the best explanation for the origin of the universe. I firmly believe that equipping teenagers in this particular stage of life is essential to firmly ground their beliefs and also to explain their reasons for holding such beliefs as they prepare for university and the work force. With regard to objective moral value though, I find myself wrestling with a problem. I do agree that without God there cannot be moral objectivity, but where do we get the rules for morality?

  • Nell Sunukjian — 

    Ive read a few blogs recently that suggest the idea of a women's ministry in a church is somehow pass矇. I beg to differ. Instead, I want to say that every church will always need a womens ministry. Lets talk about why that is. In this first article, I want to address the biblical basis for a womens ministry in every church. And then, in the second article well think about womens ministry historically and why it is still needed today in our egalitarian society.

  • Kenneth Berding — 

    In my last post (What Does The Fox Say? Who is the Fox Anyway?) I wrote about Herod Antipas. As I was writing, I realized that a lot of people get confused about who Herod is in the Bible. This isnt surprising since there are actually six different (!) Herods in the New Testament, and they are all somehow related to each other. Here are thumbnail sketches to help you keep track of whos who...

  • William Lane Craig — 

    Dr. Craig, I read your excellent book "Creation out of Nothing" and I agree with it! However, doesn't God need tremendous (if not infinite) energy to create something out of nothing? Is God's energy something rather than nothing? What is God's Mind made of if it is immaterial?...

  • Gary McIntosh — 

    You may have heard it said that email is dead. But, dont believe it. According to a report in Harvard Business Review (June 2013), based on a survey of 2,600 workers in the USA, UK, and South Africa, people continue to spend four hours of every working day dealing with e-mail. The reason? They like it, trust it, and find it an effective collaboration tool.

  • Octavio Esqueda — 

    El valor, dignidad y prop籀sito del ser humano tiene su base en el Dios trino. Tanto el hombre como la mujer son la corona de la obra divina al ser creados a la imagen y semejanza de Dios: Y Dios cre籀 al ser humano a su imagen; lo cre籀 a imagen de Dios. Hombre y mujer los cre籀 (Gen. 1:27). Cada una de las personas de la Santa Trinidad vive en completa armon穩a con las dem獺s. El Padre, el Hijo y el Esp穩ritu Santo se afirman uno al otro y tienen una relaci籀n perfecta en todos los sentidos. Nosotros somos seres sociales porque reflejamos a nuestro creador y es en el matrimonio en el que podemos experimentar de alguna manera una perfecta relaci籀n al igual que nuestro Dios. El matrimonio es idea de Dios (Gen. 2:18-25) y a trav矇s de nuestro c籀nyuge podemos apreciar el favor de Dios cuando crecemos juntos en una relaci籀n de completa intimidad y aceptaci籀n.

  • William Lane Craig — 

    Hello Dr. Craig! I'm a follower of your work and a fan of yours. I study your books just about everyday so I can learn and prepare myself as a Christian for the rest of the world waiting to maul me where I stand! I have question for you today regarding the second premise of your moral argument. This argument is dear to me because I recognized that there truly is good and evil in our world and I came to Christianity because I truly believed in love, justice, and so forth. (Keep in mind this was also before I even knew about this argument!). So when I found out about this argument when I discovered your work I was astonished! So you can see why this argument is dear to me, because it's so close in how I came to Christ!

  • Kenneth Way — 

    Recent news reports[1] are claiming that the references to camels in the patriarchal narratives (Gen 12:16; etc.) of Genesis are anachronistic, or historically out of place, because there is allegedly no evidence for camel domestication before the tenth century BC. This claim is actually not new, since it was made by W. F. Albright over seventy years ago, but is it true?

  • Gary Manning Jr — 

    1The teacher said, Hear now the parable of the foolish weightlifter. 2A certain man wished to become stronger and to run and not grow weary. So he went to the gymnasium, paying the gymnasium-master three obols.a 3The man began lifting bars with weights upon them, first one talent,b then two. But he was not able to lift three talents. 4So the man said to himself, Soul, your arms are very sore. You are not able to lift so many talents.

  • William Lane Craig — 

    Dear Dr. Craig, I am currently studying for 2 University degrees (Philosophy and Biology) in Sydney, Australia. As I am sure your aware from your recent tour of Australia my country tends to lean toward a secular approach more so than your home country. While I am by no means a Christian, I do find, time and again, that even the teachers presupposition of an atheistic worldview bleeds through their approach to discourse and find myself consistently challenging the authority as it were. In turn resulting in an un-intended theistic outcome. For this reason I have decided to first complete both disciplines and if my theistic outcome prevails then seriously consider deliberating upon the truths of different religions and see if I can hold any consistently without intellectual debt...

  • Andy Draycott — 

    So we eat. We are dependent on many and ultimately God for the grace of our continued diets. We say grace at mealtimes in recognition of that dependence. For all that, many of us dont consider that theology has much to do with meals and eating.

  • Andy Draycott — 

    Of course, if you are going to use a lens of food and hospitality to teach theology, youd better be ready to feed your students. The beginning of semester means a marathon Welsh cake baking session in the Draycott home. In our January intensive Interterm, I get to welcome the whole class to our home for a session of teaching. In regular semester the larger classes dont allow this. But hospitality then becomes an experiential learning project for the students. Throughout the semester, in groups they will have eaten a meal together and deliberately fasted and prayed together.

  • Kenneth Berding — 

    The Fox is Herod Antipas. Jesus says so. If you dont believe me, look at Luke 13:32. But what does this arrogant, sensual, and power-hungry tyrant say?

  • Clinton E. Arnold — 

    It was the fall of 1930. Just a year had passed since the stock market crash that triggered the Great Depression. Adolf Hitler was on his meteoric rise to power in Germany. But God was powerfully at work in the Pennsylvania steel town of Pittsburgh. A 21-year-old Jewish man named Bezalel Feinberg had heard the Gospel and prayed to receive Christ. It sounds so simple, yet it was anything but.

  • Joe Hellerman — 

    I am not particularly enthralled with the spiritual gifts debate that is currently undergoing a renaissance of sorts, via John MacArthurs Strange Fire conference and publications. Been there. Done that. I was a new believer when the same debate was raging back in the late 1970s, and it is a bit discouraging to see the church divided, once again, over a topic that was beat into the ground a generation ago.

  • Ben Shin — 

    The dynamics of shame are one of the greatest cultural dynamics of the New Testament. This paradigm is key in understanding other concepts and various texts accurately especially as it relates to topics such as approval, reputation, glory, and status. While these practices were prevalent in the 1st century of the Mediterranean, they also have current bearing to different segments of society today, specifically Asian-Americans in the 21st century. This blog will be the first in a series of blogs that will demonstrate the correlation of Pauls use of shame in light of the framework of Roman cultural practices as well as how it relates to modern 21st century Asian-American spiritual tendencies.

  • Scott Rae — 

    From the beginning, we learn that God created the world and called it good, making the material world fundamentally good (Gen. 1:31). He further entrusted human beings with dominion over the earthgiving them both the privilege of enjoying the benefits of the material world, but also the responsibility for caring for the world. We also learn that, from the beginning, God has implanted His wisdom into the world and given human beings the necessary tools to uncover His wisdom and apply it for their benefit (Proverbs 8:22-31). God set human beings free to utilize their God-given intelligence, initiative and creativity in discerning and applying what the wisdom He embedded into the worldthis is all a part of the responsible exercise of dominion over creation that brings innovation and productivity to benefit humankind.

  • Octavio Esqueda — 

    Los prop籀sitos de a簽o nuevo son parte de la costumbre anual de muchos de nosotros. La llegada del nuevo a簽o nos da la oportunidad para detenernos por un momento y planificar un futuro mejor. Por ejemplo, los gimnasios aumentan sus membrec穩as considerablemente en enero con personas que desean bajar de peso o mejorar su condici籀n f穩sica. Tambi矇n escuch矇 que el 穩ndice de divorcios crece considerablemente las primeras semanas del a簽o. Independientemente de la sabidur穩a de los prop籀sitos, todos los deseos persiguen un mejor destino.

  • John McKinley — 

    When I was a research student holed up in a windowless office in the library for a year, the PhD student next to my office was Jeremy Howard. While I struggled through stacks of research trying to avoid drowning in the historical theology portion of my dissertation, Jeremy was blazing through the writing of his dissertation on the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics and its use for Christian apologetics. His research world couldnt have been farther away from mine. Years later, he has recently piloted a work that fits a gap I didnt know I was looking for. To pass on an introduction to this new series, I interviewed the general editor, Jeremy Howard with several questions here.