I just flew into London on the red eye this morning.  As many of you know, my wife Sarah is a Brit, and we have lots of family here.   About fifteen years ago we bought a flat in Wimbledon, which is our base of operation when we’re here.  It’s a hoppin’ part of the universe just now, with the tournament starting.   I won’t be going this year, but our sister-in-law Gill (on the blog!), managed to get a couple of tickets for today, so she and Sarah, now, as we speak, are watching Djokovic.  Not that I’m envious. Tomorrow early I fly to Amsterdam, and then take a train over to Leiden for a meeting of the editorial board of Vigiliae Christianae, one of the premier journals of Patristics (i.e. studies focusing on the “church fathers” and “mothers”).   There are seven editors-in-chief, most of whom are European.  I’m the American.   I’ve been doing this for about eleven years. It’s an honor and a privilege to serve in this capacity.  Vigiliae Christianae, by any estimate, is [...]

I have been discussing the matter of contradictions in the Bible and the question of why they matter.  My overarching point is that they matter NOT simply so we can say “Aha!  There are contradictions!”  They matter for other things. The one point I’ve made so far is that they matter for anyone who is committed to the authority of Scripture.  I need to say that I think the point I was trying to make in that post has possibly been misunderstood.  When I asked how the Bible could be authoritative if there are contradictions, I did not mean it to be a rhetorical question, with the obvious answer being: It can’t be authoritative!  Some readers clearly took the question that way, but in fact I had a different intention. My intention was ... To read the rest of this post you will need to belong to the blog.  Joining is very fast and relatively cheap.  And every nickel goes to charity.  So why not join? My intention was to ask “How CAN it be [...]