Every philosophical and religious tradition has a view on the requirements of membership – what it takes to belong to the community of “salvation.” In early Judaism, for example, membership within “true Israel” belonged to those who were at least: descended from Abraham, circumcised (men), obedient to the food laws and observant of the Sabbath. For...
Author: Kirk Winslow
Understanding the Bible 40: The Early Church’s Struggle for Unity
What happens when you take people from different geographical regions, religious traditions, languages and cultures and tell them they are now “one in Christ” – the family of faith…? As anyone who has ever sat in a church committee meeting will tell you, the answer is: arguments! Since there has been church, there has been...
Understanding the Bible 39: Was Jesus Divine? – The Development of Trinitarian Theology
If confessing the full divinity of Jesus, or God who is simultaneously three Persons in one, strikes you as quite an intellectual stretch, know that you are in excellent company! After all, it is one thing to regard Jesus as a great religious teacher, a political leader or perhaps even some sort of (human) messianic figure....