By: Jeff Styer on September 2, 2024
N. T. Wright and Michael Bird’s Jesus and the Powers book is so timely for our cohort.[1] We are preparing to visit Washington DC, the United States’ seat of power, in the middle of a highly contested political campaign season. There are many topics in this book that are worth discussing but I want to…
By: Jennifer Vernam on September 2, 2024
With the backdrop of the upcoming elections for the President of the United States looming, N.T. Wright and Michael Bird’s Jesus and the Powers[1] have provided the global Church with a thorough review of the moral imperative for remaining involved in public life. While we may have heard this concept in other spaces, Wright and…
By: John Fehlen on September 2, 2024
I never want to reduce a book to quippy tweet-like punchlines. However, Jesus and the Powers by N.T. Wright and Michal Bird is absolutely chock full of amazingly powerful teeth punches that capture so much of the significance of this important resource. Examples include the following: • “The greatest evils are not done by people who…
By: Christy on September 2, 2024
My mother immigrated from Japan to the United States when she was 18 years old. She knew very little English but enrolled in a university and managed to graduate with a degree in mathematics. She met my father, married, and later became a United States citizen. Two of my four closest colleagues immigrated to the…
By: Kally Elliott on September 2, 2024
If you back off from every little controversy in your life you’re not alive…and what’s more, you’re boring! [The truth is] you can be more alive in pain than in complacency. It’s not enough to pray, ‘Grant us peace in our time, O Lord.’ God must be saying, ‘Oh, come off it! What are you…
By: Esther Edwards on September 2, 2024
At seven years old, Helene was faced with a dilemma. She was a daughter of Pastor Jacob, a small-town pastor who was deeply concerned regarding the changing political landscape. Hitler had gained much acclaim for helping Germany recover from World War 1 but was now showing signs of tyrannical power. Many Jews had already been…
By: Kim Sanford on September 1, 2024
Jesus and the Powers by Tom Wright and Michael F. Bird was not at all what I expected but was a delight to read. Readers journey through the history of God’s people who have nearly always lived under or at least nearby imperial rulers and then dive into the Biblical mandate to bear public witness…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on August 30, 2024
What did you know about Israel before 7th October, and what was that based upon? I had a Biblical understanding of Israel. The lessons on God Abraham and Jacob’s descendants being the chosen people in the chosen were taught throughout my life. I never quite made the modern-day connection until I was in my late…
By: Todd E Henley on August 29, 2024
As I gratefully and thankfully enter into my third year, I am approaching everything with the mindset, “Todd, you have more to learn than you realize. Therefore, intentionally look for what you do not know and what you do not see.” As I read The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict by Martin Bunton, I thought about what I…
By: Julie O'Hara on August 29, 2024
What I knew about Israel before 7th October, and what it was based upon. Before October 7th, 2023, I knew shockingly little compared to what I thought I knew. A few months ago, my sister asked me about the situation in Israel. She wanted to know why there had been conflict in the region for…
By: Daren Jaime on August 29, 2024
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has long been a source of contention and debate since I remember. Israel was introduced onto my radar in my youth as the epicenter of Jewish history and culture. We were indoctrinated into looking upon Israel as the chosen people of God, and I vividly recall teachers and those within my community…
By: Adam Harris on August 29, 2024
Well, summer is officially over, and we’re diving into a simple topic: the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. I’m just going to answer these in the order Dr. Jason Clark gave them to us. What did you know about Israel before 7th October, and what was that based upon? Being an enthusiast for ancient religion, most of my…
By: Shela Sullivan on August 29, 2024
Introduction The book, The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict provides an in-depth analysis of one of the most enduring and intricate conflicts in modern history. Martin Bunton, a historian with expertise in Middle Eastern studies, approaches the subject with balance, exploring its historical, political, and social dimensions.[1] What did you know about Israel before 7th October, and what…
By: Elysse Burns on August 29, 2024
What did I know before? Israel has been an oft-addressed topic in my family and church community for as long as I can remember. It was and remains the focus of many eschatological discussions. My father, a pastor, usually has stacks of Zion’s Fire magazines and Chosen People Ministries’ updates scattered throughout his office. In…
By: Christy on August 29, 2024
Prior to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, my understanding of the Israel-Middle east conflict was limited to casual and sporadic bits of information spread throughout my life. I have vague composite memories of car bombings and other attacks playing on the evening news throughout my childhood. Growing up in a conservative Christian…
By: Jennifer Eckert on August 28, 2024
What I knew about Israel before the 7th of October, and what was that based upon? Before the tragic terrorist attack on October 7th perpetrated by Hamas against Israeli civilians, I had gained a fair amount of knowledge about Israel and the enduring conflicts over territory and religious ideologies. My understanding came from various sources,…
By: Pam Lau on August 28, 2024
“Mythic violence is blood-violence over mere life for the sake of violence itself; divine violence is pure violence over all of life for the sake of the living.”[1] – Walter Benjamin What I Knew Before October 7th, 2023 Golda[2] is the 2023 biographical film dramatizing the leadership of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir during the 1973…
By: Debbie Owen on August 28, 2024
Large-scale human conflicts (and many small-scale conflicts) inevitably arise around concepts of ownership: “This is mine…” This desire for ownership could be about land, or water, or antiquities, or a variety of other tangible objects. But what is at the heart of the concept of “Mine!”? It’s a fear of loss. But when we dig…
By: Adam Cheney on August 28, 2024
Previous knowledge of the Israel conflict I grew up in a church that held to a traditional Zionist perspective when it came to Israel. Essentially, the return of the modern nation-state of Israel was the fulfillment of a prophecy that was going to usher in the Apocalypse. This might be overstated and simplified a bit.…
By: Ryan Thorson on August 28, 2024
“I can’t believe I am here again!” I stared across the Holy City of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. This special and remarkable place that I had visited now three times, forever etched in my mind, and a place I think of longingly almost every day I’m away. Below me the white sepulchers of…
