Pursuing Veritas

Reflections by Jacob J. Prahlow
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  • On Approaching Difficult Bible Passages

    Nothing can be more frustrating (or worrisome) as reading something in the Bible and a) not understanding what is going on or b) finding some sort of apparent contradiction in the text. Below are some suggestions on how to best to approach and make sense of these difficult passages. 1. Context is key. Before trying…

  • God, Genocide, and Context

    Several weeks ago I was chatting with some friends about the topic of God (Yahweh) in the Christian Old Testament. And, as is often the case, we ventured into the topic of whether or not Yahweh commanded genocide during the Old Testament period. While I am by no means an expert on this topic, I…

  • Readings from Martin Luther

    Martin Luther Martin Luther remains one of the most influential men in Western History, as his attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church sparked nearly 500 years of debate and division within Western Christianity. It has been said that more has been written about Luther than any other person aside from Jesus of Nazareth, as…

  • Book Review: NIV Teen Study Bible

    Reviewing a Bible requires rumination upon the purpose of writing book reviews. Many a book review offers reflections upon on the meaning, implications, and history behind the content of publication. For the Christian Bible, however, these tasks involve entire academic fields within the Academy and constitute the life-work of the Church. Hence, to summarize the…

  • Recommended Reading: June 28 – July 4

    Below are this week’s recommended readings from across the internet. I hope that you find them thought-provoking and that you have a safe Fourth of July weekend! JP If You Only Read One Article, read Legal Wins Matter–But Culture Matters More by R.R. Reno Theology and Religion Top 50 Biblioblogs, Summer Quarter 2014 by Peter…

  • Church Search: Greek Orthodox Church

    This post is part of our ongoing Church Search. For more information on our search and the churches we have visited already, please click here. During the “First Exposure” phase of our search, we are visiting different churches to gain a basic understanding of their doctrines and practices. Following these visits, we will post some…

  • Head Coverings in Corinth: Conclusions

    This is the final post in our series on Head Coverings in Corinth. In this series we have examined interpretations of First Corinthians 11.2-16 by three notable New Testament scholars, Richard B. Hays, Richard A. Horsley, and Dale B. Martin. To briefly summarize their respective interpretations and understandings of Paul’s views of the human body,…

  • Head Coverings in Corinth: Comparing Interpretations

    This post is part of our ongoing series on Head Coverings in Corinth. Having examined the respective perspectives of Hays, Horsley, and Martin, we now place their understandings of Pauline conceptions of the body in conversation with each other. First, we note the importance of the reconstructed socio-historical context for each of the scholar’s respective…

  • The Polluted Body: Dale B. Martin

    This post is part of our ongoing series on Head Coverings in Corinth. Our third perspective on Head Coverings in Corinth comes from Dale B. Martin in his work The Corinthian Body, which examines the constructions of body and sexuality within Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth. Here we will examine the contextual…

  • Immediate Reaction: SCOTUS and Hobby Lobby

    By now you’ve likely heard: the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled 5-4 in favor of Hobby Lobby’s (and other companies) contention that it should not be forced to provide certain types of contraception for its employees due to the religious beliefs concerning abortion (click here for the full text of the ruling).…