(If you don’t get the Calvin thing, go and actually read the carnival!)

Though my experience is largely outside of academia, I can relate to much of what Dr. Olson says.  Inerrancy is not understood in the pews of any church I know in the same way as it’s defined by evangelical scholars.  I often find that when I discuss with someone who affirms inerrancy I’m even arguing a more conservative position than theirs, which always feels odd.

In any case check out Dr. Olson’s comments.

I wanted to connect this with a series of posts I wrote that make a similar point amongst others.  I think it is tragic that 1 Corinthians 13 is often disconnected from 12 & 14 in discussions of the gifts.

Here’s the series:

• 1 Corinthians 12-14
• 1 Corinthians 12-14 Greek Terms
• Notes on 1 Corinthians 12
• Notes on 1 Corinthians 13
• Notes on 1 Corinthians 14

I illustrate the connection between the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts as follows:

A B&W version of that slide is used in my book Identifying Your Gifts and Service (Workbook), designed for use in a classroom setting, and I discuss the issue in the Small Group edition of the same book.

Today John Byron of The Biblical World comments on the American Patriot Bible reaching bestseller status on Amazon.com.  With the number of Americans these days who are effectively equating being a good American patriot with being a good Christian, this is not entirely surprising.

Byron is quite correct when he says that “… Americanizing makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to use it be critical of ourselves. In the end the Bible will no longer be ‘God’s word to us’ but ‘God’s word about us.’”

(HT: Exploring Our Matrix)

Michael Dowd, also debating with Dr. Mohler (who seems to be keeping busy!) claims that biblical Christianity is bankrupt. I intend to respond from my “passionate moderate” viewpoint a bit later. For now I would just note that I see problems with the definition of “biblical Christianity.”

(Another HT to: Exploring Our Matrix)