Bible

Leviticus & the Political Season [GUEST POST]

/ austinricketts4 / 5 Comments

Here’s another great guest post by my good friend Austin Ricketts. I love the perspective he brings to this topic. Enjoy.

Politics are difficult to escape during the Fall season.  Autumn is my favorite season, but I am irritated nearly every year with all of the political ranting and raving.  There is a point up to which politics is necessary.  Whenever you’re dealing with a group of people, be that group small or large, you’re already in the realm of politics.  Politics, in its best light, is all about establishing order and good behavior.  These are good things.  So, why do these good things bring about so much chaos with a lot of bad behavior to boot?

Perhaps we all need to be reminded of the fruits of the Spirit.  Those fruits are of the greatest importance, especially in times when differences of opinion and conviction are brought to a head.  Yet, it’s these fruits which are conspicuously absent at these times.  More often than not, people prefer the forbidden fruits of bitterness and condescension.  Fallen in sin, we all gravitate toward these forbidden fruits just like our ancient father and mother did.  We have always to be on guard.

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Jesus’ Wife fragment judged a fake [casual fri]

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hmm… so did you hear about that fragment found recently that talked about Jesus’ wife? (By the way, here’s a great segment Jon Stewart did on this.)

Daniel B. Wallace's avatarDaniel B. Wallace

“News flash: Harvard Theological Review has decided not to publish Karen King¹s paper on the Coptic papyrus fragment on the grounds that the fragment is probably a fake.” This from an email Dr. Craig Evans, the Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Acadia University and Divinity College, sent to me earlier today. He said that Helmut Koester (Harvard University), Bentley Layton (Yale University), Stephen Emmel (University of Münster), and Gesine Robinson (Claremont Graduate School)–all first-rate scholars in Coptic studies–have weighed in and have found the fragment wanting. No doubt Francis Watson’s comprehensive work showing the fragment’s dependence on the Gospel of Thomas was a contributing factor for this judgment, as well as the rather odd look of the Coptic that already raised several questions as to its authenticity.

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The Best Bible Resource I’ve Ever Read [casual fri]

/ Paul Burkhart / 3 Comments

To do this Bible Class that has consumed the past few months of my life (and this blog–I swear I’ll stop talking about it soon), I had to read a lot of stuff, including these (as well as their New testament counterparts). I checked out stuff from the Philadelphia library, and watched a bunch of lectures from iTunesU (especially these). I looked through commentaries and websites and articles and handbooks and sermons.

In other words, I at least glanced over a lot.

But there was one resource that I found more helpful, clear, and amazing than any other Bible resource I’ve ever found. No exaggeration. No hyperbole. I’m serious.

It’s a pair of textbooks (one on the Old Testament, one on the New, one combined with both) written by a theologian I had never heard of before. his name is John Drane (here’s his painfully poor-designed website as well). Yes, textbooks. And I read most of the Old Testament one and all of the New Testament one.

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Using the Bible to Meet with God

/ Paul Burkhart / 6 Comments

Last week, I asked a bunch of you how you go about using the Bible and the study of its contents to actually nourish your soul and meet with God. I got some great responses both here and on Facebook. This week, I wanted to put up how I ended up approaching this during the class I taught at my church. It’s super short, not very deep, and much more can/should/will be said. For what it is, I hope it’s genuinely helpful and speaks to how we might meet God through the Scriptures.

How do we move from the Facts of the Bible to the God of the Bible? From knowing the Bible, to knowing the Person? From Scripture being informational to formational?

The Meeting Place of God

As I said in the first class I taught, the Bible is not the passive “Revelation of God”. It is the place through which the Holy Spirit actively “reveals God” to us. When it comes to the Bible, we should start thinking more in verbs, not nouns. The Bible is “simply” a meeting place for God and his people, where he might meet them as he desires, by His Spirit.

When we meet God in Scripture, its the convergence of four things: Us and our faith, God and His Spirit.
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Join Us for a Tour of Biblical History at the Penn Museum this Saturday!

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As a fitting conclusion to the six-week Bible Survey Class I’ve been teaching at my church, I’ll be leading a tour of The University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Archaeology of Anthropology, focusing on much of the Biblical History we covered in the class. The museum has a very rich collection of items from the regions and eras in which most all of Biblical History unfolds. We will be following the unfolding storyline of the Bible as we travel to each section, learning the context and the history that set the stage for the faith many of us now call our own.

If you’re interested, meet us at 10am this Saturday, August 25th in the courtyard in front of the main entrance (pictured above). Note: There’s a smaller entrance at street level some may confuse as the main entrance. We will be up the steps where the main fountain is.

The cost is $12 for adults and $8 for students (and well worth the price). The museum is located at 33rd and Spruce (map), right across the South St bridge. (Parking advice: park on the east side of the South St bridge in the Graduate Hospital area and then walk over the bridge). See you there!

Class 6: NT Letters, Revelation, & The Bible in Worship (WE’RE DONE!)

/ Paul Burkhart / 3 Comments

This week was the last week in the six-week Bible Survey class I’m been doing at my church.

It’s been an honor to do this class, and I feel like this last one went especially well. Others seemed to find it genuinely helpful.

We ended our time in this class by talking for a little bit about how we can use the Bible–and all the information we just gleaned these past weeks–in our own, personal, spiritual lives.

To conclude the class, this Saturday we will be going to University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. You really won’t want to miss this. I’ll be putting a post up on this tomorrow.

For those that have followed in class and online, thank you so much for doing so. It was such an honor to be able to do this class, and I can’t believe I was given the time and grace to do it.

I hope that these resources are found to be helpful to those that invest their time into them; and that they draw each of you into a greater knowledge, love, and desire for our God as He meets us in our Scriptures.

And lastly, over the next months, I will be compiling all of these notes, as well as other essays I’ve written on the Bible in the past and self-publishing a book in both print and electronic forms. If you think about it, please pray for me. I’m starting to see that self-publishing is a lot more costly and complicated than I had originally thought.

This Lecture Covers:

  • A chronological survey of the contents and background of Paul’s letters
  • Discussion of the contents and background of the other letters of the  New Testament
  • A talk about that crowd-favorite, Revelation. We talked about how it fits into the greater story of Scripture, how it’s often misread, how to properly read it, and it’s contents and background
  • How one should approach the Bible to build up their spiritual life
  • Practical methods people can employ to know God through the Scriptures

**Side Note: twice in the audio of this lecture, I refer to Galatians and James as books that may each have been the “first book of the Bible written”. I meant to say “New Testament”, not “Bible”. Sorry.**

Download: [Audio] [Notes] Continue reading →

How do you use the Bible and Bible knowledge in your spiritual life? [OPEN MIC]

/ Paul Burkhart / 7 Comments

This weekend, I will be teaching the last class in my six-week Bible Survey class at my church. I want to end the class talking about how to use the Bible (and especially the knowledge gleaned from the class) in one’s personal (and corporate) spiritual life. How does the Bible actually function in a believer’s life to cultivate a dynamic, deep, and intimate relationship with Christ and the Holy Spirit? I have my own thoughts on this, but I want to hear from all of you. So here are some questions:

  • Do more Bible “facts” actually have a direct impact on your spiritual engagement with God? In other words, has studying the backgrounds of the Bible ever led to meeting God? How or why not?
  • What practical methods of immersing oneself in Scripture have been most fruitful to you spiritually?
  • How might people use the tools of Biblical Studies (commentaries, etc.) to treat the Bible formationally, rather than merely informationally?
  • For those that are oriented in such a way that they constantly want to know the context, background, history, date, etc. of Scripture, how have you been able to quiet all these questions in order to meet God?
  • Similarly, for those more “intellectually”-oriented, how have you been able to move beyond the intellect to engage other parts of yourself with Scripture?
  • How do we move beyond facts of Scripture to the Person of Scripture?
  • If (as I said in the first class, and other theologians have said) the Bible only “becomes” the Word of God as the Holy Spirit meets us during our engagement with it, what have been the most effective practical ways that you have invited the Holy Spirit into your Bible Study time?
  • In your experience, what have been some of the pitfalls in other approaches that are commonly endorsed by the contemporary church, or what are some of the realities that aren’t talked about often?
  • What would you say if you were me (haha)?

Feel free to respond below, in a Facebook comment, email, text, or phone call. Thanks.

Class 5: Intertestament, pt. 2; NT Intro; Gospels; Acts

/ Paul Burkhart / 3 Comments

This week was the fifth week in the six-week Bible Survey class I’m doing at my church.

And wow, we covered a lot in the class. But still, this class probably had the greatest percentage of material I had prepared that was not actually touched on in the talk. This makes the manuscript that much more full of extra material.

Covering the topics above, I have 35 pages of material below.

You may have noticed that I never actually finished the materials I talked about last week. Well, entering into an entirely new testament of the Bible put me in a mindset that I just couldn’t go back to finish up writing about every one of the Prophets. I’ll do it someday. I promise.

Lastly, mark your calendars for August 25th, where we will be going to University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. You really won’t want to miss this. Details to come next week.

This Lecture Covers:

  • A discussion of the Political and Religious history between the Old and New Testaments
  • An Introduction to the Background of the New Testament
  • Background and context of Jesus, his upbringing, and his life
  • Survey of the content and background of the Gospels.
  • An extensive and in-depth look at the book of Acts.

Download: [Audio] [Notes] Continue reading →

Class 4: Prophets, pt. 2; Wisdom Books; & Intertestamental Period, pt. 1

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This week was the fourth week in the six-week Bible Survey class I’m doing at my church.

We didn’t quite get to the Introduction of the New Testament like I had planned. This class was a bit different than other ones. Rather than focusing on a lot fo content of each book, this week was mostly a “tour” of these sections of the Bible and History, with some “highlights” along the way. The main point was to give people a bigger picture of these things to help them read the Bible themselves.

Just like last week, my notes are very incomplete. Most everything I said is in there, but I definitely want to provide a lot more in the notes than I say–and that hasn’t been filled in for most of the books so far. I will be spending the next two weeks filling that in. Once I’m done, I’ll let you all know. Thanks for your patience.

Lastly, I know I did a very poor job at telling the story of the Intertestamental history. I will try this again and condense it more in the next class. I will be much better prepared then.

This Lecture Covers:

  • Principles to keep in mind to help when reading the Prophetic books
  • Highlights from the Prophetic Books
  • Survey of the content and some of the background of the Wisdom Books of the Old Testament, with a special focus on the content of Job
  • Survey of the History between the Old Testament and New

Download: [Audio] [Notes] Continue reading →

notes from last week’s class are finally done!

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Earlier this week, I posted the audio and incomplete manuscript for Class 3 for the Bible Survey class I’m doing. Last night, I finally finished polishing up the notes with all the extra information I wasn’t able to say in the class. I hope it’s helpful. This final manuscript comes in at 36 pages long (admittedly, that’s with size 14 font to make it easier to read online, but still), so there is lots of stuff there that wasn’t talked about (especially with Kings, Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Esther).

So, check it out below, download it, share it, critique it, and let me know what you think! I’d love to get some feedback on these to know if they’re actually helpful. Enjoy, and thanks for your patience! (and P.S. don’t forget about the Dead Sea Scrolls trip tomorrow.)

What do we make of the atrocities of the Old Testament?

/ Paul Burkhart / 11 Comments

This is a slightly edited version of an excursus I wrote in this week’s notes for the Bible Survey Class I’ve been teaching at my church. Follow that link for more information on the class. Also, I’m well-aware that the second half of this is exactly the “angle” talked about in the venerable Pete Enns’ recent blog post. I wrote this before he posted that, but still, I wanted to put it up on the off-chance this articulation might be helpful to others.

In the books of Numbers and Joshua, God commands the Israelites to commit genocide on many different people, including their women and children. He also commands them to forcibly enslave others. And in still another story, he commands Moses to take the remaining virgins of this particular people of which they disobediently did not kill all, and divide them evenly among the soldiers and the “rest of the Israelites”. We can only imagine what for.

A few quick thoughts:

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Class 3: The Historical Books & Prophets, pt. 1

/ Paul Burkhart / 2 Comments

This week was the third week in the six-week Bible Survey class I’m doing at my church.

And yes, we actually covered all the books of the Old Testament from Joshua to Nehemiah, did an intro to the Prophets, and had a brief discussion on the ethical problems with the “Old Testament God” in an hour.

You can find a small article I wrote on those atrocities and “ethical dilemmas” of the Old Testament attached to the end of the Notes below.

At the time of this writing, I’m not quite done with the notes, but I wanted to get the lecture audio to everyone. So, below you will find an incomplete version of the notes. I will upload a revised version later today (or tonight) with everything else filled in. I’ll update this post when that happens, as well as the Scribd doc below.

Also, as I posted about earlier today, as part of this class we will be going to the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit this Saturday in Philadelphia. There are also discounted tickets available. Check the link, and I hope to see you there!

This Lecture Covers:

  • A discussion of the Deuteronomistic and Priestly Histories of the Old Testament
  • Survey of the content and background of the Historical Books of the Old Testament from Joshua to Nehemiah
  • An general introduction to the Prophets
  • A discussion concerning the atrocities committed in God’s name by the Israelites in Joshua and Numbers

Download: [Audio] [Notes] Continue reading →

Join us this Saturday to see the Dead Sea Scrolls!

/ Paul Burkhart / 5 Comments

As part of the Bible Survey Class I’ve been teaching at my church, I’ll be leading a tour of the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at The Franklin Institute here in Philadelphia (map).  We will be meeting at 4:30pm this Saturday, July 28th in the main hall just inside the main entrance (you can get into that hall without buying a ticket). I’ll have some introductory words to set up our time, and then we’ll go to the exhibit where we’ll stop a few more times for some added information.

Also, Living Social is selling discounted tickets to the exhibit all this week (the usual evening price is $19.50). So even if you can’t go this week, still buy the tickets and go another time. It’s an amazing exhibit and will be here until mid-October. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at burkhartpm [AT] gmail [DOT] com.

P.S. the trip to the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology has been moved to a week later than originally scheduled, to the 25th of August.

a homosexuality post-script & conclusion

/ Paul Burkhart / 4 Comments

Most of last week on this blog was spent discussing some recent “conversations” about the Evangelical church’s relationship with the homosexual community. I first addressed conservatives, and then progressives (as well as some thoughts on the “willful persistence in sin” comment I hear from conservatives a lot). This week, we move on. But not yet. In response to some of the ways people have responded to these posts, I felt I needed to write this.

In conclusion to it all…

These posts I’ve written got a lot of circulation around the web (and to those who commented/posted links, I thank you), and so for anyone that runs across them, I want to make something clear:

It might seem odd that I’ve typed far more words and dripped more sarcasm in attacking the more conservative side of this issue, all while ultimately agreeing more with them at the end of the day. In the end, even with all of my many theological and social disagreements, I cast my lot with them, even though I know most of them would not have me.

These posts, hopefully, have been written in the same spirit as Mark Noll’s blistering attack on Evangelical anti-intellectualism, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, which he calls “an epistle from a wounded lover”.
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Some critical words for the Left on Gay Reparative Therapy (ii)

/ Paul Burkhart / 17 Comments

Update II: I posted some important final words on these posts.

Yesterday I began giving some of my thoughts on Exodus International‘s recent repudiation of gay “Conversion Therapy” that was supposed to have “cured” gays of their homosexuality. I began by talking about my experience reading the primary text on this type of therapy in college, and then I criticized some of the common thinking of those on the more conservative side of the spectrum when it comes to this topic, especially how Evangelicals have reacted to Exodus International’s President, Alan Chambers. I also wrote some further thoughts responding to some questions about “homosexuals ‘persisting’ in their ‘sin'” (Update: I clarified some thoughts on that post).

But today, I’ve got some words for the Left…
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