Pisteuomen - πιστευομεν - T. Michael W. Halcomb

...well, then watch this and get un-offended: HT: APB

As is customary with BAR ( Biblical Archeology Review ), during the most sacred days of the Christian religious calendar, a free e-book is given away. This year, for Easter, BAR is giving away the free book titled Easter: Exploring the Resurrection of Jesus . Here are the chapters in the book, with their authors: * Emmaus Where Christ Appeared - Hershel Shanks * The Resurrection of Resurrection - N.T. Wright * Thinking About Easter - Marcus J. Borg * To Be Continued - Michael W. Holmes * Conclusion: The Resurrection To download the book, click the image-link below:

Call it nonsensical, call it conservative, call it evangelical, call it stupid or whatever...but I believe it! It was not group think, not a group vision, not multiple group dreams or visions, not an ecstatic experience that Paul or the first Christians spoke of when they talked about a resurrected Jesus (I mean, come on, when they talked about dreams and visions and whatnot, they were clear about them! In fact, when they considered such things to have happened, great spiritual events, they were sure to call them that. Even Paul himself is clear as to when he's speaking of visions and non-vision events pertaining to the risen Christ! This is such a lame argument that people try to use.). Anyway... I agree with J. Moltmann, who, when speaking of the women that also believed in a bodily resurrected Christ after seeing the empty tomb, says: "Jesus’ empty tomb is not a proof of his resurrection, for it could, after all, have been empty for a different reason; but this return of th...

Here's a short cartoon I made:

The story of Jesus rebuking Peter has always been one of the most attention getting narratives of the Synoptics. Among commentators, one or two things are usually emphasized: 1) Peter rebukes Jesus’ “failure” mentality (that is, Peter believes that Jesus’ vision is too shortsighted), or 2) Jesus rebukes Peter for being possessed by or in-league with the devil, that is, satan. While other views exist (usually just a nuanced view of these two points), these are certainly the ones that dominate literature on Mark. It is my contention, though, that there is a better way to read and understand this story. A few posts ago, I argued that in chapter 8 of Mark’s work, Jesus is essentially taking stock of His ministry. He asks many question to gauge precisely where His disciples are and what they think about Him. He also wants to know what others think about Him. One of the questions Jesus asks is, “Who do people…and who do you, say that I am?” Peter replies, “You are the Messiah.” Certainly, Pe...