March 5, 2018
This is a guest post by Jeff Wischkaemper, who holds a Ph.D. electrical engineering, and he lives in Knoxville, TN, where he attends a relatively new church plant that is affiliated with Christian Churches/Churches of Christ. ********** It’s been six years since my wife and I left the Churches of Christ. Shortly after we left, […]
10 Comments |
Uncategorized | Tagged: Church, Church Gowth, Church Plants, Demographics, Millennials |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
January 29, 2018
This is a guest post by Kaitlin Hardy Shetler who delivered this homily on 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 at the All Saints Church of Christ on January 28, 2018. ******** When I read Corinthians, I am struck by how many times Paul connects weakness to holiness. It’s as if the whole letter, peppered with missives to […]
3 Comments |
Biblical Texts | Tagged: #MeToo, 1 Corinthians 8, Abuse, Church, Knowledge, Love, Sexualilty, Sexuality, Strong, Suffering, Weak, Woundness |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
October 16, 2017
Listening to this letter within the community of his own house church, Philemon hears Paul’s affection for Onesimus. He is not only Paul’s child but Paul’s own “heart.” “I am sending my heart back to you,” Paul writes. This simple statement has several significant rhetorical functions. First, Paul not only does not secretly hide Onesimus […]
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Uncategorized | Tagged: Church, Onesimus, Philemon, Philemon 12-16, Roman Slavery, Slavery, Table |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
August 18, 2015
Several weeks ago, Michael Shank asked—by email—if I would review his new book, When Shovels Break, on my blog. Since I reviewed his first book Muscle and a Shovel, I thought it brotherly to say “Yes” to his request, just as I have responded to all his communication with me in the wake of my […]
28 Comments |
Books | Tagged: Church, Ecclesiology, Hermeneutics, Interpretation, Michael J. Shank, Michael Shank, Muscle and a Shovel, When Shovels Break |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
June 27, 2015
This is a key moment in Peter’s letter, both rhetorically and theologically. Rhetorically, it heads the major body of the letter (1 Peter 2:11-4:11) as the letter moves from identity to exhortation. Theologically, it describes how disciples of Jesus live faithfully in a hostile culture. In terms of identity, though exiles and aliens within Roman […]
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Biblical Texts | Tagged: 1 Peter 2:11-12, Church, Culture, Ethics, State, Witness |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
June 21, 2015
This section is soaked in quotations, allusions, and echoes of the Hebrew Scriptures. Peter depends heavily on Isaiah 28:16, Psalm 118:22, Isaiah 8:14, Isaiah 43:20-21, Exodus 19:5-6, Isaiah 42:12, and Hosea 2:23. Out of the 126 Greek words that lie behind the English text, almost half of them are directly from the Hebrew Bible (quoted […]
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Biblical Texts | Tagged: 1 Peter, 1 Peter 2:4-10, Church, Identity, Israel, Mission, Missional, Temple |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
June 4, 2015
Elect exiles, scattered across the Roman provinces of modern Turkey, are the heirs of Israel’s story, which means they participate in the trajectory of not only Israel’s history but also its hopes. Significantly, the “salvation” in which believers rejoice is what Israel, through its prophets, anticipated. The living hope and future inheritance—“this salvation”—in which believers […]
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Biblical Texts | Tagged: 1 Peter 1:10-12, Angels, Church, Israel, Narrative, Prophets |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
August 22, 2014
[Michael Shank, Muscle and a Shovel: A raw, gritty, true story about finding the Truth in a world drowning in religious confusion (5th edition, 2013; Kindle version). I have cited the book with chapter number first, then the Kindle location. For example, Chapter 1, location 245 is cited as 1:245.] [My first and second blogs […]
27 Comments |
Books, Hermeneutics, Stone-Campbell, Theology | Tagged: Church, Churches of Christ, Eccelesiology, Hermeneutics, Michael Shanks, Muscle and a Shovel |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks