Bringing the Word to Life

Bone of My Bone, Flesh of My Flesh!

1 Comment / It All Started in the Garden, Marriage Curriculum, PCUSA, Teaching, Theological Reflection / By /

Slowly but surely we are doing the biblical work to seed our marriage curriculum for use in PCUSA circles. In my last post we observed that the accounts of creation in Genesis 1 and 2 emphasized different elements but had at least three features in common: they each announce a likeness that empowers human beings for meaningful existence, they each identify human sexual distinctions to be foundational, and they each differentiate humans from the rest of the creaturely world. In Genesis 1 we observed that there is no differentiation between male and female with regard to their being in the […]

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God Imparted Gifts to Humanity for Good Reason

Leave a Comment / It All Started in the Garden, Marriage Curriculum, Marriage Definition, PCUSA, Teaching, Theological Reflection / By /

26Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” 27            So God created humankind in his image,                       in the image of God he created them;                         male and female he created them. 28God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it;

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Log Dog Cannot Be God

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On our early morning hikes through the Walnut Creek Open Space, we often encounter a delightful English lady with one or two dogs in tow. She is a volunteer at the local dog rescue shelter, and she just loves her pets. One lab mix we call “Log Dog” will carry a sizable tree branch all the way up the hill, sometimes dropping it at our feet in pride. Great fun. Anyway, for the first time in the years we have been acquainted, Dog Lady this week had along a Gentleman Friend who led Log Dog on the leash. My instantaneous

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It All Started in the Garden

1 Comment / It All Started in the Garden, Marriage Curriculum, PCUSA, Teaching / By /

Okay, let’s start. My next few posts will explore the themes in Genesis 1 through 3, particularly those that frame the marriage question. The discussion will intertwine with theological anthropology (the nature of the relationship between humanity and God). But first, at the request of one of my readers, for the sake of context I will list some other themes that have their genesis in the Creation and Fall accounts. The following concepts will be taught in my church class on the following schedule between now and Christmas, and the remaining topics will be covered after the first of the

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Marriage: “Let’s Start at the Very Beginning”

5 Comments / Marriage Definition, PCUSA, Teaching / By /

Last night I launched my 2012-13 Bible study at church, called “It All Started in the Garden.” The class will take (at least) fifteen theological themes introduced in Genesis 1 through 3 and trace them through the Scriptures. As my blog readers have noticed over the last 198 posts, I quite frequently go back to Eden as my starting point on a topic. And yet, comments occasionally criticize my approach as misguided, believing that the Christian’s starting point for a topical study should always be “what Jesus said about it.” So I thought it would be helpful, in the midst

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Marriage: Models and Mirrors in Scripture

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As we develop a curriculum on marriage for use in the PCUSA, we must take a look at some biblical data causing questions and confusion in the church. Readers of this blog and contributors of others have cautioned that a fair Bible study on the meaning of marriage must include the diverse forms family takes. There is no question that the biblical narrative reports polygamy (Lamech in Genesis 4, Jacob in Ge 29f) and concubines (Abraham, Ge 25:5; Solomon, 1 Kings 11). As an aside, it is interesting to note that there are no reports of homosexual marriages or polyamory

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More Biblical Data on Marriage

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As we map out a plan for studying marriage in the PCUSA, the basis for a curriculum must emerge from the Scriptures. We continue our collection of data from both Old and New Testament regarding the theological foundations for marriage. You will notice that I have not even touched upon practical theology (namely, how we are called to live within the parameters of marriage). We’re still finding the connections between God’s actions and statements and the relationship he instituted. If we do our work carefully at this stage, our praxis will be faithful and true to God’s intent. Today’s additions

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Exegetical Method Applied to the Topic of Marriage: Step 1

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As my thoughts turn back to marriage, I would like to honor my parents who were married 43 years until my dad died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage in 1996. Today would have been their 60th wedding anniversary. In the past few days I have demonstrated an exegetical method using the topic of women in leadership, to answer a question that comes up from time to time and to set the stage for applying the same method to the topic of marriage. This is the biblical work we must do to set the foundation for a course on marriage. Today,

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The Basic Method for Interpreting a Bible Passage

1 Comment / Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, PCUSA, Teaching, Women in Ministry / By /

In the last several days I have demonstrated an exegetical method on the topic of women in ministry. It is a relevant topic to one GA commissioner, as noted at the beginning of this series, and to the others who may be searching the Scriptures again as they ponder a migration to another branch of the Presbyterian family. The method generally went like this (though I truncated it somewhat for blog-space purposes): 1. What does the Scripture say—I collected the data from Scripture, in this case using a matrix to sort it by category. For the Bible student who is

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And Eve Is Relevant . . Why?

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We left off yesterday with Paul’s introduction of his theological argument against women teaching in the church. He has stated his rule, and now he launches into a rationale: “[Gar] , first Adam was formed, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman . . .”(1 Tim 2:13). How this applies depends on the function of the transitional word gar. If gar means “for” or “because,” then Paul is saying “women are not allowed to teach be­cause Eve was created second; and because Eve was deceived, not Adam.”  That is, Eve’s cre­ation after Adam and her sinning before

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