Category Archives: Index

Faith Lessons by Ray Vander Laan: No Greater Love, Part 1 (Korazin)

The video begins at the traditional site of the Sermon on the Mount, overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Just to the north are the ruins of Korazin, a city where Jesus often taught. Korazin At Korazin the DVD shows the … Continue reading

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Hermeneutics and Blue Parakeets: Relational Reading

McKnight reminds us, “God speaks to us in words but God is more than the Bible. … God ? Bible.” Missing the difference between God and the Bible is a bit like the person who reads Jonah and spends hours … Continue reading

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Hermeneutics and Blue Parakeets: The Story’s Plot

McKnight explains that the Story of the Bible is held together by 5 themes — * Creating Eikons (Genesis 1 – 2): Theme is Oneness * Cracked Eikons (Genesis 3 – 11): Theme is Otherness * Covenant Community (Genesis 12 … Continue reading

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An Overheard Christmas Conversation (with note to Village Voice readers added)

I was standing in a checkout line, doing my bit to stimulate the economy, you know, when I heard two women talking. “Did you hear? Costco has told its stores — all 520 of them — not to use the … Continue reading

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Hermeneutics and Blue Parakeets: Wiki-stories

McKnight notes that most blue parakeets — passages in the Bible that we disagree over — can be dealt with by: That was then; this is now. The trick is knowing when to apply it and when not to. To … Continue reading

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Hermeneutics and Blue Parakeets: The Bible as Story

I’ve previously mentioned narrative theology. The point is pretty simple. The Bible is written as a story. Not a “story” in the sense of fiction. Rather, it’s “story” in the sense of “Dad, please tell us the story about how … Continue reading

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Hermeneutics and Blue Parakeets: Reading With Tradition

McKnight continues explaining the right way to read the scriptures. The way of returning to retrieve it all is not the biblical way. The biblical way is the ongoing adoption of the past and adaptation to new conditions and to … Continue reading

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Faith Lessons by Ray Vander Laan: The Time Had Fully Come (The Essenes)

Christianity did not arise entirely new and unprecedented in history. The Essenes, who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls, had many remarkable similarities with early Christians, showing that God was preparing the soil for the seed he would sow. About 200BC, … Continue reading

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Hermeneutics and Blue Parakeets: What’s a Blue Parakeet?

Each denomination has its own blue parakeets. McKnight explains that once while watching birds in his backyard he saw a blue parakeet fly in and land among the sparrows. He thought surely the parakeet had escaped from someone’s home and … Continue reading

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Hermeneutics and Blue Parakeets: Introduction

Scot McKnight, whom I’ve blogged about before (under “Should We Be Emerging?” and “Ironic Faith”), has recently published an excellent book on hermeneutics called The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible. It’s an introduction only, but it presents … Continue reading

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