Pisteuomen - πιστευομεν - T. Michael W. Halcomb

During Christmastime, in the Christian tradition, we hear over and over that Jesus is God made flesh. To put it differently, Jesus is the "God-man". The traditional teaching in Christianity is that the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary, she miraculously conceived a child as a virgin and gave birth to Him. Thus, He was "God's Son" or "The Son of God". In the opening verses of Mark's Gospel, the nomenclature is used: Jesus the Messiah, "Son of God" (Grk: υιος θεος). It also appears in Mk. 5 (Gerasene Demoniac story) and Mk. 15 (story of the Roman Soldier at the cross). Interestingly, this title is not unique to Christendom and it is certainly not unique to Jesus. Nearly 50 years before Jesus stepped on the scene, Octavian was already referring to himself as the divi filius (the Latin of υιος θεος). For the 30 years prior to Jesus' birth Augustus was also being called this. During the rule of Tiberius, we know that his ruling son, Germa...

What better time than Christmas to resurrect old arguments about the birth of Jesus, right? Let's take, for example, the dated notion that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was raped by a Roman soldier named Panthera. This, actually, is a viewpoint that the modern filmmaker (and member of theJesus Seminar), Paul Verhoeven, is attempting to make in a movie and write a book about. The title of the book is Jesus Of Nazareth: A Realistic Portrait . But is the notion that Mary was raped, actually realistic? Or better yet, is this an argument we can place any stock in? Not so much because it troubles me theologically but because I can find no good evidence that would cause me to subscribe it, leads me to say "No" to both answers. More on this in a moment! Let me digress a little bit here and ask another question, one that has also been around a while but also seems to get brought up at Christmastime: Did God rape Mary? Was the miraculous conception an act of interpersonal violence...

Throughout Christian history, the magi (Grk: μαγοι) have become a central part in Jesus' birth narrative. Yet, there are some good reasons for us to step back, survey their roles in the story, and ask some new questions. We shall start with questions that challenge some of our presuppositions: Why have they been referred historically to as "kings"? Why have people suggested that they are "wise"? What makes us think that they were "men"? Why do we only include three in the episode? How do we know they traveled by camel? Is there any reason for us to believe that they were wealthy? Why do we assume that they were intelligent stargazers and that they could read the heavens? Is there evidence to suggest that they were from Babylon or Persia? Why do they give the gifts they do? Now, answering all of these questions could lead to the writing of a book. But, I want to ponder them, so, I'll have to do so in a more brief manner than a tome. So, let me j...

In my previous post on this series ( A Miraculous Conception? ), I raised a number of questions that Christians must ask and attempt to answer when thinking about Jesus' birth in its ancient context. I also showed a number of ancient accounts of the births of prominent persons in antiquity. Those narratives had many elements in them that were similar to the story of Jesus' birth (dreams, visions, natural phenomena [stars, etc.], deities impregnating women, persons called 'son of god', etc.). *Note: If you have not read that post, please click the above link and do so, it will really, really help you draw out a fuller meaning from this post. So, I should remind us here that in Jesus' day (both before, concurrent with, and after His time on earth), there were birth narratives of others that were considered "miraculous". Historically, we are not in a position to really ask whether any of these things "really" happened. Nobody in antiquity probab...

A few years ago, I attended one of Ron Luce's "Acquire The Fire" events and quite enjoyed myself. I was a youth minister at the time and had taken my students to the event mainly because the renowned apologist, Josh McDowell, was speaking. Prior to attending, I had read through and referenced a variety of McDowell's books. I admired what he was doing; he helped me through some tough, searching and trying times. At the conference, he came out and just blew everybody away with this bit he did on biblical prophecy. He claimed that there were hundreds of thousands of OT prophecies that had "come true" in the NT. He even showed this great little video that argued that the statistical analysis of the number of fulfilled OT prophecies should leave nobody with any doubts about the veracity of the Bible. I got into this for a while, I must admit. But there came a point in time when, through a different, more critical approach to the biblical texts, I began to rea...

On the heels of a brief discussion that previous post brought up, namely, controversies surrounding the birth of Jesus, I thought I'd start a brief series during Advent that explored, in context, that very subject. Since I was asked to decipher some of the language pertaining to the nativity story, particularly that of the "virginal" conception / birth, I am going to start there. I should say here that I am very excited about this series and that I have already made a lot of headway on it. I hope some of the posts provoke good discussion (and, perhaps, debate). So, here, I want to start by addressing the use of Isa. 7.14 in Mt. 1.23. No doubt, scores of scholars have spent much time on this very issue throughout history. The majority of the conversation has focused on whether or not the Hebrew term 'almah, found in Isaiah, rendered "parthenos" in the Greek LXX (Septuagint, that is, the first Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) and subsequently in Mt...

Recently (12/16/07) I preached on the genealogy of Jesus, something I had never attempted before. (I think that visiting the graveyard last week where a number of my relatives are buried is what ultimately got me reflecting on the genealogies.) Anyways, as one who is highly interested in using the social sciences to interpret the Scriptures, that is the angle from which I approached Mt. 1.1-17. What follows are some insights into Jesus’ genealogy at Christmas (or any other time of the year for that matter). To begin, we should keep in mind that in Jesus’ world, honor was the thing most sought after and shame was the thing most avoided. It has been said more than enough that antiquity was an honor/shame culture. When reading Matthew’s genealogy, then, and the rest of the birth narrative for that matter, I think we see Matthew doing all he can to show that Jesus is due honor. As would be expected, Matthew even uses the infamous 3 g’s (gender, geography, genealogy) all within the sc...

A few years ago this book was being given away online.  Here it is again, at no cost.  Download this free book titled T he First Christmas: The Story Of Jesus' Birth In History And Tradition,  which is about 70 pages in length and contains essays by 6 renowned scholars including: Dale Allison, Jerome Murphy-O'Connor and more. Click the image-link below to download the book! (*Note: The download may take a few moments to start!)

Today begins a number of posts/reposts on Pisteuomen dealing with Advent.  I hope to continue this through the rest of the Advent season.  I'm a Christian. But I'm a Christian who, to be quite frank, is just incredibly sick and tired of a lot the public antics of other so-called Christians. Or, maybe it's just the idiocy or ignorance of them that really gets me. Either way, I just wish these folks would get their heads out of the clouds and come back to reality. I say this right now because at perhaps no other time during the year are these types of people more arrogant and ignorant than during the Christmas season. I am ashamed that people within the church, people who perceive themselves as pious and devout and knowledgeable, are often none of the above. It often makes every Christian look bad AND stupid! I'm thinking in particular here of the notion of "The War on Christmas." Lots of church-folk have been led to believe that saying anythin...

So, recently, a video has been floating around sites like Facebook that's getting quite a bit of attention. It is titled "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus". There are many errors in the video as far as I'm concerned and in my own video spoken word response, I point some of those out. Here it is: * Update/Just a Note :* So much of western Christianity is about the self and feeling good and emotions. Yet, that's precisely not what Paul and the other early Christians were about. So, where does some of this come from? Well, partially from a philosopher named WFG Hegel, who saw the world in counterparts. Good/evil, black/white, etc. This is part of where we get the grace/law, grace/works dichotomies. Then, when you add the earlier Christian thinker Martin Luther into the equation, the one who misread Paul as an apostle who, like himself, was torn apart with internal conflict, you get the problematic view of justification. Where Luther did a lot of good, thi...

So, in just a few hours, I head off to the airport to return home.  My time in Israel has simply been amazing!  I came here alone, not knowing a soul, and made a lot of great friends.  I took no travel tours and managed to hike through the Old City and countless other biblical sites on my own (though, a new-found friend graciously helped me with transport from time-to-time).  I navigated the bus routes and shops, studied Greek like never before and experienced the Holy Land in so many special ways.  The mixture of rich cultural and topographical landscapes here in Israel has enriched my life.   Tonight, I watched the sunset just a few feet up from the barbwire fence that separates the West Bank from Jerusalem.  The irony is that while I stood there in that place denoting such a historical divide, I was also watching the sunset behind Bethlehem.  Even more, I was standing in the very field where the shepherds were keeping the flocks by night d...

Today was either my favorite or next to favorite day here in Jerusalem thus far.  Part of that was because studying Greek was so enjoyable (albeit intense) and part of it was because I got to explore more of ancient Jerusalem's underground world.  In fact, I think that my favorite or again, next to favorite, site that I've seen so far was the spot where the Sanhedrin met to carry out their vicious plot against Jesus.  This morning at about 8am Jerusalem time, I was sitting underground with a group of New Testament lovers reading the Gospel account of Jesus' night-time trial.  Of course, this is in all four Gospels but we were reading Matthew's narrative (Mt. 26.57-68).  I don't know if it was the lighting, being underground, or that the story is so scandalous in and of itself that got me--perhaps all of them!--but it was totally cool reading this story in the original language and then interpreting and discussing it in Greek too.  Quite amazing.   ...

This afternoon I had the privilege of walking through one of the newest tunnels being excavated in Jerusalem.  It  is a tunnel that runs from the west side of the City of David to the base of the temple, following along the temple's western wall.  It has been open a little less than a month and is supposedly going to continue being dug through over the next few years.  It seems, as of now, that it was used in antiquity as a water channel.  Anyway, I mention that here because once I came up out of the ground, I was standing beside the western wall.  Walking south a number of yards to the corner of the western and southern walls, I saw a very significant place, which in Greek is called το πτερυγιον (the edge, pinnacle or summit). Below, you can see a photo that I took of το πτερυγιον.  This is the place where, according to Matthew's account, Jesus likely was tempted by ο διαβολος (the devil).  Here's what Matthew's account says in Gre...

I'm a Christian. But I'm a Christian who, to be quite frank, is just incredibly sick and tired of a lot the public antics of other so-called Christians. Or, maybe it's just the idiocy or ignorance of them that really gets me. Either way, I just wish these folks would get their heads out of the clouds and come back to reality. I say this right now because at perhaps no other time during the year are these types of people more arrogant and ignorant than during the Christmas season. I am ashamed that people within the church, people who perceive themselves as pious and devout and knowledgeable are none of these. It just makes every Christian look bad AND stupid! I'm thinking in particular here of the notion of "The War on Christmas". Lots of church-folk have been led to believe that saying anything but "Merry Christmas" during this season is borderline if not fully heretical. So, in what they believe to be a litmus test of faith, they ...

This is the Jesus that many people across the world lust after. This is the Jesus who not only is okay with war but sanctions it as long as it is fought by someone who calls themselves a Christian. This is the Jesus that, if the real Jesus returned, would either not recognize or may find as his complete antithesis. This is the Jesus whose Sermon on the Mount (and he's on a Mount, because he has fought his way to the top, trampling everyone else below him) has become: Blessed are the warmongers, for they shall inherit every oil rig. Blessed are those strapped with guns and missiles, for they shall rule this earth. Blessed are those who devastate nations, for they will be feared. Blessed are those who have the biggest military, for God will most certainly be on their side then. Blessed are those who train for war, for they will outlast the rest. Blessed are those aggressive, for they will get to lord their power over others. Blessed are those who fight in my name,...

Ok, so, I'm going to do my best to keep this brief and to the point. I have been putting this post off for days but since I was just interrupted 5 minutes ago, I thought I'd go ahead and post it. Who was I interrupted by? A Southern Baptist preacher and his wife. That's right, at 7pm in the evening, they knocked on my door. When I opened the door, he did the first thing a good Baptist does: Handed me a tract. After that, he told me he was a pastor and then told me about his church. I told him I was a pastor too; he didn't know how to respond. So, I said, yeah, I am a teaching pastor at a new Methodist church. His silence ended as soon as I said that. So, what did he say when he found the words to speak again? You probably guessed it, that's right, he said, "Well, are you saved?" Yep! As soon as I said the word "Methodist" he questioned my salvation. He went on, "Even some pastors aren't saved, did you know that? They can ha...

Here are some resources, the first which I developed, and the second that my students created in class this morning, that deal with religious affiliations in antiquity that are pertinent to New Testament studies. Enjoy!

Here's a copy of the lecture I gave for NT Theology this morning at ATS for those who are interested:

In addition to yesterday's post, here's another creative re-telling of the nativity in a modern context passed on to me by my father-in-law: