Category: Letters
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Breaking the Silence: Rethinking 1 Timothy 2 and Women’s Roles in the Church
Let’s delve into the intriguing complexities of 1 Timothy 2:12, a passage often cited to restrict women from church leadership. But is it truly a blanket prohibition or are we sidelining half the church based on a single verse misunderstood? Join us as we dissect historical contexts, linguistic nuances, and Paul’s underlying intentions to unveil…
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Unveiling 1 Corinthians 11: Going beyond ‘New Women’
Learn about Paul covering the uncovered: his surprising stand for women in 1 Corinthians 11.
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Walk: A Metaphor
Walk is a much-used metaphor in Scripture. Its meaning is clear: walking stands for how we live life; our walk is our lifestyle. Paul uses the metaphor extensively in Colossians and Ephesians. One could say it is the subject of the entire second half of Ephesians: Walk worthy of your calling (Eph. 4:1), with Paul…
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The Challenge of James (II)
The challenge of James is, of course, a double one. The more important one is to do what it says; that’s hard. But there is also the challenge of finding coherence in its message: What is James about? What is its point? And linked with this: What is its structure? I will start with the…
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The Challenge of James (I)
For this issue and the next, I take on the challenge of James. First, a general exploration, before I look at the unifying theme and coherence of its message (next time).
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‘Original Sin’: Explaining the Inexplicable
It’s rare that you can prove a biblical truth through direct observation of human behaviour; here is one. But that doesn’t make it any easier to explain it. Second and final part.
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‘Original Sin’: The Conundrum We Cannot Do without
It’s rare that you can prove a biblical truth through direct observation of human behaviour; here is one. But that doesn’t make it any easier to explain it. First part of two.
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Titus: Structure and Genre
For the 100th time, a report from my learning journey. This issue: Titus – there is more than meets the eye at first sight!
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Hebrews: A Masterpiece of Language & Eloquence
Hebrews comes with an unusually large vocabulary and outstanding rhetoric – all plugs pulled to celebrated the superiority of Jesus.
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Redefinitions II: The Righteousness of God
In the previous issue, I wrestled with objective and subjective genitives and whether the phrase “faith of/in Christ” needs reinterpretation. This month, I do the same with a different phrase, one that is perhaps of even greater importance: “the righteousness of God” in Romans 1:17, in which “God” is in the genitive case. For I…
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Redefinitions I: Faith or Faithfulness?
I am gearing up to write on models of the atonement: different ways to explain what Christ accomplished by dying on the cross. This is a big topic, and a contested one. Traditional understandings get a lot of flak these days. Rightly or wrongly? We will see. Here, I deal with a much smaller but…
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The Rhetorical Structure of 2 Corinthians
Second Corinthians is hard to follow – until you understand the rhetorical strategy and skill Paul applies in his fight for integrity.
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1 Corinthians: Is Paul Also among the Rhetoricians?
Occasionally, we run into a piece of new information that throws a bright new light on something familiar. It enables us to see coherence where before we had not noticed connections. In other words, it creates an “Aha!” experience: suddenly everything (or at least something) makes sense. This happened to me when I was preparing…
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‘New Women’ in Rome and in Corinth
I should have read this book much sooner. It provides crucial background information on the life of women in the first century. In doing this, it illuminates several difficult and controversial passages in the New Testament. I am referring to Bruce Winter’s Roman Wives, Roman Widows: The Appearance of New Women and the Pauline Communities,…
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Codex, Kingdom of Heaven, Rapture: Three Random Things
I regularly run into bits and pieces of insight or information that fascinate me but that seem too small to turn them into a full issue of Create a Learning Site. This month, I present three such pieces: codex, kingdom of heaven, and (the true meaning of) the rapture. You can also watch this content…
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Invest in Romans (Get the DIY Guide)
I have often wondered how we can help individuals and small groups to explore a book of the Bible. To discover things for yourself (rather than simply being told by someone) is a key value in inductive Bible study. But this does not necessarily mean sending people off on a journey of discovery without any…
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Paul in Three Words
Paul summarized in three words!? Generations of theologians have wrestled their brains out with Paul’s thought, and now we are able to summarize all of this in just three words? I don’t blame you if you are sceptical, but give N. T. Wright a chance: he thinks he can do it, even though it takes…
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One Year Anniversary; Plus: Disentangling the Knot of 1 John
This issue of Create a Learning Site marks one year of blog post and training letter writing. The first post and letter, which wrestled with the cryptic second half of Zechariah, appeared on 5 May 2014. I have certainly enjoyed the study projects and the opportunity to learn and share what I am learning with…
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A Fresh Look at Old Letters: Socio-Rhetorical Criticism
With this subject, I am taking you along on my own recent learning experience. Socio-rhetorical criticism is a relatively new approach in biblical studies, and I have taken some time to get to know it better. Admittedly, the term “criticism” is unfortunate, because of its negative connotation in everyday language. No such negative bias is…
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Who Is “I” in Romans 7? And: A Fresh Look at Romans 1-8
Paul’s epistle to the Romans is a book I taught quite a bit during my early years in the School of Biblical Studies, but not much at all in later years. In the course of a school one cannot, alas!, teach every great book in the Bible oneself; other staff want their share of teaching,…