As detailed in the previous post, we at Kenwood made a fresh English translation of the Nicene Creed for use in worship in 2018. We recited the Apostles’ Creed in 2019 and 2020, and we decided to return to the Nicene for 2021. When we did our translation, we initially decided not to include the […]
Author Archives: JMH
A Fresh Translation of the Nicene Creed
The Nicene Creed (Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan) We believe in one God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten son of God: the one begotten from the Father before all the ages, light of light, true God of true God, begotten not […]
The Lord’s Supper
The early Christians met on the first day of the week for the breaking of bread and instruction in the Scriptures (Acts 20:7; cf. Justin Martyr 1 Apol. 67). This breaking of bread was in obedience to the instruction of the Lord Jesus, who told his disciples to do so in remembrance of him. Celebrating […]
J. K. Rowling Tells the Truth . . . In Her Fiction
J. K. Rowling tells the truth in her fiction. Her twitter feed is another matter. Perhaps the limitations of the genre don’t allow her to communicate the nuance, sensitivity, and charity that characterize her fiction. Whatever the case, there’s a chasm between what she writes in her novels and what she tweets. In her fiction, […]
The Nicene Creed: A Not Too Difficult Greek Challenge
The Nicene Creed is pretty easy to read for anyone who has had a bit of Greek. Why not try to read it? Here you go: Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα ΘΕΟΝ ΠΑΤΕΡΑ παντοκράτορα, ποιητὴν οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς, ὁρατῶν τε πάντων καὶ ἀοράτων. Καὶ εἰς ἕνα κύριον ἸΗΣΟΥΝ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΝ, τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ, τὸν ἐκ […]
An Open Letter to Airbnb on Their Bias and Discrimination
This morning I received an email from Airbnb on their new Church Covenant, er, “community commitment.” As I have settled convictions against their statement of faith and cannot live by their church covenant, I am happy to resign my membership in their church. I do so with the following open letter: Dear Airbnb, Your new […]
It’s Not a J. K. Rowling Novel
The title of this post says what you need to know about this play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, bearing the ascription, “based on an original new story by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne; a new play by Jack Thorne.” Here are my complaints, as they come to me: The characters are […]
Will Following Jesus Make You Liberal?
Susie Meister has explained how studying religion made her a liberal, with the result that she left the right, stopped voting Republican, and started voting Democrat. I want to provide an accurate summary of her concerns and try to provide the kind of things I would say in response if I knew her: if I […]
Don’t Play Travel Ball: Stay in the Rec League
I have friends I respect whose kids have played (and some who do play) travel ball, and I mean no offense to them by this post. Nor am I categorically condemning their decisions and choices. I am offering these thoughts for parents who are considering whether to put their kids on a “competitive” team, or […]
Great Books Selections for Fall 2015 and Spring 2016
When I was choosing which books to assign for Great Books at Boyce College this year, I googled the topic and surveyed the choices others had made. Teaching Great Books has been a joy to my heart. I was an English major, and I wish I could talk about these books like my teacher, the eloquent Skip […]
Book Excerpt: The Final Page of With the Clouds of Heaven
What a book the Bible is! There is nothing else like it. And to think that this unified book from the hands of so many individual literary geniuses transcends itself by imparting the knowledge of the living and true God. What a privilege to have such easy access to the text of Scripture in the […]
Is Biblical Faith a Kierkegaardian Leap?
These reflections were prompted by the first chapter of David Crump’s Encountering Jesus, Encountering Scripture: Reading the Bible Critically in Faith. In his introduction, Crump is very clear that his understanding of faith has been heavily influenced by Soren Kierkegaard. Crump explains, “Arriving at faith in the Word incarnate is not the inevitable result of a […]
Why You Need To Preach the Song of Songs
The smut is everywhere. On billboards, on TV screens, and eye-level in the checkout line at the grocery store, to say nothing of what is one click away on the device in your pocket or the screen on your desk. Beyond the superficial temptation of all the eye-catchers, the smut comes with a story. These sirens […]
What Does It Mean That We’re Made in God’s Image?
Here’s the opening of a piece I wrote for InTouch Magazine: Sometimes a counterfeit helps us understand the purpose of the genuine object. People produce counterfeit money, for example, not to hoard but to exchange for things of value. And that should remind us money is not to be treasured for its own sake but […]
The Song of Songs: A Biblical-Theological, Allegorical, Christological Interpretation
Christians have long read the Song of Songs as music that sings of the one who so loved his bride that not even death could keep him from her. If Hosea could present his relationship with Gomer as a kind of allegory of the covenant between Yahweh and Israel, why couldn’t Solomon have done the […]
Can We Arrive at a Young Earth and 24-Hour Period Days in Genesis One from Scripture Alone? A Guest Post by Steve Ham
Steve Ham is the Senior Director of International Outreach at Answers in Genesis. It has been a privilege to get to know him and to enjoy his friendship. — I do believe the Bible gives ample justification for calculating the age of the earth at around 6,000 years and for seeing six normal 24-hour days […]
Don’t Try to Learn History from the Movies
Edward Rothstein asks, “Whose History Is It, Anyway?” in the Wall Street Journal, and don’t miss this important section on the recent movie “Selma”: “Selma” is more complicated. You might conclude from the film that President Lyndon Johnson’s staff was untrustworthy on civil rights, while Johnson himself was actually nefarious, regardeding Martin Luther King Jr. […]
Chesterton on the Convincing Accumulation of Evidence
From Orthodoxy: If I am asked, as a purely intellectual question why I believe in Christianity, I can only answer, “For the same reason that an intelligent agnostic disbelieves in Christianity.” I believe in it quite rationally upon the evidence. But the evidence in my case, as in that of the intelligent agnostic, is not really […]
Anachronistic Assumptions and the Documentary Hypothesis
David M. Carr opens his book, Writing on the Tablet of the Heart: Origins of Scripture and Literature, as follows: In her book Oral World and Written Word, Susan Niditch vividly illustrates the problems with contemporary assumptions about ancient textuality, as she outlines the picture many biblical scholars often assume in their discussions of biblical formation. Critiquing […]
The Days of Creation and Exodus 20:11
Justin Taylor has caused quite a stir with his post on “Biblical Reasons to Doubt the Creation Days Were 24-Hour Periods.” The decisive factor for me is how earlier biblical statements are interpreted by later ones, so Exodus 20:11 is BeastMode (a.k.a. Marshawn Lynch) on the goal line in this argument. Re-reading the Van Pelt quote JT gives on […]