Baker Academic has kindly allowed me to post the introduction to the new book, The State of New Testament Studies, edited by Scot McKnight and myself (2019). This short introduction offers a succinct orientation to developments and shifts in NT studies in the last two decades or so. (Click on image below)
(An excerpt fromHuman Rites: The Power of Rituals, Habits, and Sacraments, ch. 9 “Riting Our Wrongs”)
“We know that all Christians in the early church celebrated Easter, and that Jesus commanded us to celebrate other rituals like the Lord’s Supper. But the birth of Jesus was not celebrated—either by Jesus or his apostles. And we read about Jesus’s birth in only two of the four Gospels. Still, we celebrate the birth of Jesus every year.
But are we really doing that—or have the commercial attractions of Christmas completely overtaken our remembrance of Christ? We should give some careful thought to our Christmas rituals and what effect they have on us. What might we be able to do to change this?
We all know of the Christmas gift rituals that powerfully overtake a child’s entire being year after year. And how about the Santa Claus myth?
I couldn’t…
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Outward Thoughts From An Introverted Mind 