June 19, 2015
Mount Sinai must have been an impressive, even startling, sight. Enveloped in darkness with flashes of lightning, Israel heard the thunder and even, on one occasion, the voice of God. They felt the rumblings of God’s presence in tremors that rippled through the earth’s crust. This was Yahweh’s holy mountain. Yahweh descended upon it, and […]
2 Comments | Biblical Texts | Tagged: Advent, Exodus 40, Holy Spirit, Indwelling, Messiah, Pentecost, Tabernacle, Temple, Wilderness | Permalink
Posted by John Mark Hicks
May 7, 2014
Joel’s lament liturgy in the first half of the book envisioned the devastation of Israel by a locust plague (or perhaps an invading army). That impending disaster also represented a future apocalyptic disaster. Joel is working at two levels–the immediate moment but also a future cataclysm. Israel’s response to such news, as with all other […]
7 Comments | Biblical Texts, Theology | Tagged: Acts 2:17-21, Ecclesiology, Galatians 3:28, Gender, Holy Spirit, Israel, Joel 2:28-32, New Creation, Pentecost, Restoration, Resurrection, Spirit, Women | Permalink
Posted by John Mark Hicks
February 8, 2012
“God is Spirit, and those who worship God must worship in Spirit and Truth” (John 4:24). You might not immediately notice but one of the differences between my translation and the traditional one is that I capitalize “Spirit” and “Truth.” I think this is important. The traditional use of this text is to locate the prepositional […]
17 Comments | Theology | Tagged: Bible-Gospel of John, Christology, Eschatology, Holy Spirit, John 4:24, Liturgy, Temple, Truth, Worship | Permalink
Posted by John Mark Hicks
December 5, 2011
On November 7, 2011, I met with the Stone-Campbell Dialogue in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Interested persons from the Disciples of Christ, Christian Church/Churches of Christ and Churches of Christ met for some dialogue, fellowship and service in the community. This was the sixteenth time the Dialogue has met. It was the second time I had […]
9 Comments | Stone-Campbell, Theology | Tagged: Alexander Campbell, Barton W. Stone, Holy Spirit, Stone-Campbell, Stone-Campbell Dialogue, Unity | Permalink
Posted by John Mark Hicks
October 24, 2011
Having chosen his twelve, Jesus resumes his ministry in Galilee, and he finds both popularity and opposition. He is so popular that people crowd him in such a way that Jesus and his disciples are not able to “eat bread,” that is, to eat anything. At the same time opposition intensifies with accusations of demon […]
1 Comment | Biblical Texts | Tagged: Bible-Mark, Blasphemy, Gospel of Mark, Holy Spirit, Mark 3:20-35, Mary | Permalink
Posted by John Mark Hicks
March 7, 2011
R. C. Bell (1877-1964) attended the Nashville Bible School from 1896-1901. James A. Harding took Bell with him as a faculty member at the newly founded Potter Bible College in 1901. Later Bell would teach at several different colleges among Churches of Christ and eventually ended up at Abilene Christian College as a beloved teacher. In 1959, […]
6 Comments | Stone-Campbell, Theology | Tagged: David Lipscomb, Holy Spirit, James A. Harding, Lubbock Christian College, Nashville Bible School, R. C. Bell, Relationality, Stone-Campbell, Tennessee Tradition, Texas Tradition, Trinity | Permalink
Posted by John Mark Hicks