If you've been following along with the blog the last few years, you've probably heard various rumblings about a new blog platform. You might have even have periodically wondered, "Is that project still happening? What's the latest?"  We're excited to let you know that the first phase of the new platform we've been working on behind the scenes is finally ready to launch on Monday, September 8th. The blog will briefly go offline during this time. Here’s what that means: The blog will likely be down for 8–12 hours, though it could take up to 2 days. During that time you’ll just see a maintenance message when you navigate to the website. If any scheduled posts are impacted, they will simply be published when the site is back up and running. You won't miss anything! When it’s back up, you won’t notice any visible changes. The blog will look and work just the same for the time being. The difference is under the hood. We’ve cleared out years of technical debt, which means from here [...]

I now provide a bullet point list that summarizes "at a glance" Paul's very first surviving letter (and therefore the earliest Christian writing of any kind that we have!), along with some questions to reflect on based on this very interesting text.  It's a short but fascinating letter; if you don't remember it very well, give it a re-read; and do see what I've said about it in this "Nutshell" series, see the posts here: 1 Thessalonians in a Nutshell 1 Thessalonians: Who, When, Why 1 Thessalonians for Further Reading Here now is a quick overview/summary of key points: At a Glance:  1 Thessalonians I Thessalonians is the earliest of Paul’s epistles, and thus the earliest book of the New Testament and the earliest surviving Christian writing of any kind. It can be used to provide clues concerning how Paul went about his missionary activities. He evidently did not preach on the street corner or stage evangelistic rallies, and he did not (contrary to the book of Acts) begin by preaching in [...]