Pisteuomen - πιστευομεν - T. Michael W. Halcomb

Here's a portion of the flyer for the upcoming " Theological Educators Forum on Orality " that I'll be participating in.  In this presentation, which comes on the heels of one I gave at a conference last week titled "Never Trust a Greek...Professor: Revisiting the Question of How Koine Was Pronounced," I will really focus in on the so-called "Erasmian pronunciation" and the damage it has caused both inside and outside of the academy.  The paper at the Forum on Orality is titled "Erasmian's Role in Linguistic Genocide: Issues Concerning Morality, Orality, and the Pronunciation of Koine Greek."  There will be an audio version of this presentation available in an upcoming episode of the "Get Greek! Podcast" hosted by the Conversational Koine Institute . (The previously mentioned presentation will also be available in a forthcoming episode of the podcast.)  In addition, Asbury Theological Seminary will be making a 7-minute ...

Beyond events such as 9/11, the Gulf War, the War in Iraq, and the War in Afghanistan, I have witnessed in my lifetime countless other acts of violence in our world.  On a more personal level, I have both seen and experienced physical violence and abuse against me and other family members.   Less than 2 years ago, during a church service, my wife, who was standing next to me during worship, was robbed by two street thugs who fled from the service with her purse.  Several years before that, while in college, I along with two friends who were with me on a camping outing, was attacked by a group of men who threw a homemade bomb near us and then emerged from the woods to hold us up at gunpoint for money.  In short, I have seen violence happen from a distance and on a massive scale as well as up-close on a personal level.   Some psychologists say that experiencing violence on a personal level changes someone forever; they are never quite the same.  ...

As those of you who have been reading this series know, thus far I have been systematically working  through passages of the New Testament that are used by pro-gun advocates to promote their agenda of owning and using guns.  To see those posts, click HERE .  In spite of the fact that a number of people have commented on these posts with antagonism to what I have to say, not one person has yet offered a well-researched, well-argued or solidly-grounded argument of refutation.  In this post, the seventh in this series, I want to continue working toward a theology of guns in the manner I have been doing thus far.  In short, here I want to deal with a misused passage that pro-gun advocates attempt to use to justify their claims. In particular, here I want to address a statement that is, in many ways, used more frequently than most others.  In fact, I heard someone make this claim just yesterday saying, "I'm a Christian woman but I'm also a pre-school teac...

Hello everyone, I am happy to announce today that my book Entering the Fray: A Primer on New Testament Issues for the Church & Academy was released in Kindle format today.  Best of all, the prices is less than $10.00!  That's right, you can get Entering the Fray for $9.99 in Kindle format.  That's over 300 pages of New Testament research and history for $9.99.  I will say, while I am pleased that the Kindle format has finally been released, I was a little displeased that they modified the "callout boxes" throughout the book if but then again, it may have been the case that had they not done that, the book would have never been released for Kindle.   Regardless, the content of the book stays the same but the format/layout changes just a bit.  Anyway, if you would, head on over to Amazon and check out the Kindle version of Entering the Fray by clicking HERE .  Or, if that doesn't suit your tastes, order a hard copy HERE .  Or, you have anoth...

Recently I had the opportunity to read A. Scott Moreau's new work titled Contextualization in World Missions: Mapping and Assessing Evangelical Models .  I want to say "Thank you!" to Kregel for the gratis review copy.  I also want to say "Kudos!" to Dr. Moreau, who is Professor of Intercultural Studies at Wheaton College (Ill.), for producing a very fine and helpful work.  Indeed, I have even been able to engage this text for some of my dissertation work. In this book, which spans 429 pages and is divided into 14 chapters across two major parts or sections, Moreau's goal is to interact with the major theories or models of contextualization that have been put forth within missiological studies over the last several decades.  Throughout he uses the analogy of a map (hence the subtitle) and also discusses the various "maps" of contextualization that others have developed.  As a Bible scholar I found Moreau's work helpful but, of course, I ...

Thus far in my series on the relationship between Christians and guns, I have dealt with a number of passages in the New Testament that pro-gun advocates attempt to use in their agenda to favorably link Jesus to guns and Christianity or Christians to guns.  I have shown thus far, however, that such endeavors are unfounded and misplaced.  You can read more by clicking the following links: * Pt. 1 (Lk 22:35-36) * Pt. 2 (Mt 26:52; Lk 19:42, 22:35-36) * Pt. 3 (Jn 2:15-16) * Pt. 4 (Mt 8:5-13 and Lk 7:2-10) * Pt. 5 (Mt  10:34; Lk 12:51; Rev 19:15) In Pt. 2 I also dealt with the theological concept of incarnation and showed how it is both rooted in peace and has the ethical and theological implications of being peacemakers.  Here, I want to look at the evangelical concept of salvation and ask what contribution it might play in the discussion of Christians and guns. All throughout the Bible, that is, across both Testaments, the concept of salvation lo...

Since I wrote the last post in the series, there have been a handful of school shootings take place in the U.S., not to mention a pastor whose son killed him, his wife, and his siblings with the guns they had in their home. A study was also released which showed that more than nearly 60% of the time, having guns in the home leads to someone in the home  shooting another person living in the home, not an intruder. Just as well, the presidential administration rolled out some more laws on guns and gun control.  In my view, it is high time that Christians be talking about guns and and violence in the United States (and across the world for that matter) and working toward a well-reasoned and scritpurally-based theology of guns. That's precisely what I've been aiming to do here. In this series I have been systematically dealing with passages from the New Testament that are often used by pro-gun advocates in an attempt to bolster their pro-gun agenda. I have shown, howe...

Thus far in my series "Toward A Theology of Guns: A Christian's Perspective" I have dealt with three passages in the New Testament that folks often try to use to build a cumulative case to argue that it is okay for Christians to carry weapons and engage in violence.  Today, I want to continue on in the same manner and deal with the argument that since Jesus healed a centurion, he must have been okay with swords and violence.  First, however, I want to briefly summarize the previous three posts. Post #1 :  In this post I showed how fallacious interpretations of Lk 22:35-36 are often used to contend that Jesus promoted the use of swords among his followers.  I set my argument within the context of the ancient Hebrew "Two Swords Tradition," which, in Luke's account, Jesus is tactfully and purposefully subverting or overturning.  Thus, Lk 22:35-36 cannot be used to argue that Jesus was okay with violence or his followers wielding weapons.  I also showed ...

In the third part of this series, which is titled "Toward A Theology Of Guns: A Christian's Perspective," I want to address a specific claim that is often used to help build a case that Christians can use violence. Honestly, in my view, this argument is completely absurd and completely disconnects the Bible from exegesis, reality, and theology. I am not surprised, however, that many American Christians use it to attempt to justify their violent ends; we are after all, a culture of violence and death and have been greatly influenced in this regard. You can see this argument used in the comment section of my previous post in this series HERE , as well as in another comment section of a post I wrote on guns HERE . The argument goes like this: In the temple, Jesus flipped over tables and used a whip. Thus, Jesus used violence against people. Therefore, since we are Jesus' followers, there are times when it is advantageous to use violence. In modern times, we...

In a post I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I made the call for Christians to turn in their guns.  Of course, it was not my blog post that brought the following about, but I must say that I was glad to see that this week, in L.A., the police department offered citizens grocery store gift cards for turning in their guns .  I did some looking and found that other states, such as Illinois and Maryland , have done this in the past too.  I would love to be a part of helping organize something like this in Kentucky.  Even more, I would love to see churches helping set up these types of events all over the country (and world for that matter).  Pastors, elders, deacons, and congregants, why not take the lead in your place of worship and try to get something like this in the works?  It is Christians, those who claim to be sons and daughters of the Prince of Peace, those who claim to align themselves with and follow the Prince of Peace, who should be leading the way...

In the last couple of weeks I have had to place blogging on hold and give priority to other matters.  I hoped to write a few more posts in this series but at this point, time just does not permit.  So, just a few days from the election, here I will offer my last post in the "NOT Voting: A Christian Perspective" series.  Links to all of the previous posts in this series are at the foot of this post.  Here then, is the final point I wish to make: Point #13: The "Kingdom of God" and the "United States" are not synonymous. I raise this point because as of late, I have heard many folks actually fall into the trap of equating or nearly equating the two.  This is evident in rhetoric that acts as if the next president is "God's man" or depending on who gets chosen, we will either end up with a type of political "messiah" or "antichrist."  Such views are terribly problematic and very flawed.   First of all, God's c...

In my previous post, I mentioned a comment made by president Obama during a recent interview, which he spoke as he was exiting the stage:  "There's no excuse for not voting."  The host, Jon Stewart, offered his ditto to this remark saying, "That's for sure!"  I've already made the point that this series I'm writing is NOT a list of excuses to abstain from voting but rather, a bunch of good reasons.  I want to respond to the president's comment once again and ask here, "What is the purpose of voting?"  This question leads me to my next point in this series: Point #12: Voting cannot fulfill the role of or replace repentance . For Christians, the New Testament concept of repentance is found in the Greek word μέτανοια (metanoia), which carries the idea of recognizing a wrong or transgression (against self, other, or God), confessing that transgression, and then turning away from and abstaining from that transgression.  Repentance...