Bible Interpretation
On Teaching Cruciform Hermeneutics to Kids… (podcast)
Category: ReKnew Podcast
Tags: Bible Interpretation, Hermeneutics, Kids, Parenting
Greg talks about what to do with congregants who are engaging in illegal activity. Also, attention is given to the question of guns in church. Episode 580 http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0580.mp3
How is the Bible “God-Breathed”?
Category: General
Tags: Bible, Bible Interpretation, Cross, Cruciform Theology, Inspiration, Jesus
Topics: Biblical Interpretation
The historic-orthodox church has always confessed that all canonical writings are “God-breathed” (1 Tim 3:16). But what exactly does this mean? How could God guarantee that the writings that his “breathing” produces are precisely what…
Podcast: Should We Trust the Bible When it Fails on Page 1?
Category: ReKnew Podcast
Tags: Bible, Bible Interpretation, Evolution, Science
Greg talks about science and the Bible. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0345.mp3
When Jesus Referred to Canaanites as “Dogs”
Category: General
Tags: Bible Interpretation, Cruciform Theology, Paul Copan
Last week I discussed Paul’s harsh language regarding his opponents, the worst example being his reference to certain opponents as “dogs” (Phil 3:2). I suggested that such language simply reflects the fact that Paul wasn’t…
Jesus, the Word of God
Category: General
Tags: Bible Interpretation, Cruciform Theology, Jesus
Topics: Biblical Interpretation
“[T]he standing message of the Fathers to the Church Universal,” writes Georges Florovsky, was that “Christ Jesus is the Alpha and Omega of the Scriptures both the climax and the knot of the Bible.”[1] It…
Is the New Testament Ambiguous About Non-Violence?
Category: General
Tags: Bible Interpretation, Cruciform Theology, Non-Violence
Topics: Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
One could argue, with some legitimacy, that the portrait of God in the NT is not unambiguously non-violent, the revelation of God on Calvary notwithstanding. It can’t be denied that there are violent-appearing images of…
Modern Theologians and the Centrality of Christ
Category: General
Tags: Bible Interpretation, Christocentrism, Crucifixion of the Warrior God, Cruciform Theology, Theology
Topics: Biblical Interpretation
During the twentieth century the development of a Christocentric reading of the Scriptures—which is crucial to understanding what I argue in Crucifixion of the Warrior God—surged in the wake of Karl Barth’s publication of his…
How the Church Fathers Read the OT
Category: General
Tags: Bible Interpretation, Church Fathers, Cruciform Theology
After the completion of the New Testament, the church fathers developed theology in their increasingly Gentile post-apostolic church in such a way that many of the distinctively Jewish features of the NT’s use of the…
The Entire Old Testament is About Jesus
Category: General
Tags: Bible Interpretation, Cruciform Theology, Old Testament
Topics: Biblical Interpretation
Jesus himself taught that he carried more authority than any prophet that predated him. Though Jesus regarded John as the greatest prophet up to himself (Matt 11:11), he claimed his own “testimony” was “weightier (megas)…
The God Who Stoops
Category: General
Tags: Bible Interpretation, Cruciform Theology
Topics: Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
The way that one imagines God can be thought of along the lines of a Rorschach test. That is, I submit that the way a person imagines and experiences God says at least as much…
Can Good Theology Be Innovative?
Category: General
Tags: Bible Interpretation, Cruciform Theology
Topics: Biblical Interpretation
For many in conservative Christian circles innovation in theology and biblical interpretation is viewed as suspect, if not sinful. To this I would simply respond by pointing out that the attitude that would dismiss hermeneutical…
Approaches to Reading the Bible
Category: General
Tags: Bible, Bible Interpretation
Topics: Biblical Interpretation
As early as the 17th century, certain Bible scholars began to apply the scientific model of knowledge that evolved during the Scientific Revolution to the study of Scripture. This new “scientific” approach is broadly referred…
The Centrality of Christ in Hebrews, Part 2
Category: General
Tags: Bible Interpretation, Christocentrism, Cruciform Theology, New Testament, Old Testament
Topics: Christology
The intensely Christocentric reading of the Old Testament that I introduced in the previous post is reflected throughout the book of Hebrews. Here I want to cite two more examples of how this writer saw…
The Centrality of Christ in Hebrews, Part 1
Category: General
Tags: Bible Interpretation, Christocentrism, Cruciform Theology, New Testament, Old Testament
Topics: Christology
The intense Christocentricity that the New Testament writers embrace is nowhere more clearly and consistently illustrated than in the book of Hebrews. Throughout this work we find a repeated emphasis on the many ways the…
Podcast: How Can We Objectively Know What is Literal in the Bible and What is Not?
Category: ReKnew Podcast
Tags: Bible Interpretation, Hermeneutics
Greg discusses bible interpretation, and all that that implies. Greg goes toe-to-toe with fundamentalist bible interpreters. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0088.mp3
Jesus is the Center of the Story
Category: General
Tags: Bible, Bible Interpretation, Cruciform Theology, Jesus
Topics: Biblical Interpretation
The previous post addressed how the revelation of Christ is the surprising twist that reframes how we must read all that precedes it. Today we’ll look briefly at five supports to this claim. Jesus said,…
The Twist that Reframes the Whole Story
Category: General
Tags: Bible, Bible Interpretation, Cruciform Theology, Jesus
Topics: Attributes and Character
Many people read the Bible as if everything written within it is equally authoritative. As a result, people read it along the lines of a cookbook. Like a recipe, the meaning and authority of a…
Friday Lights: Don’t Make Paul Haunt You
Category: Lighten Up
Tags: Bible Interpretation, Friday Lights, Prosperity Gospel
Image via Adam4d.com
Unpacking Revelation: Is it Literal?
Category: General
Tags: Bible Interpretation, Book of Revelation, Jesus, Violence
Topics: Biblical Interpretation, End Times
According to many scholars as well as many Christian laypeople, the Jesus we find in the book of Revelation engages in a great deal of violence. This violence reaches a zenith in chapter 19 where…
Should Innovative Theology Be Rejected?
Category: General
Tags: Approaches to Theology, Bible Interpretation, Cruciform Theology
Topics: Biblical Interpretation
In some conservative Christian circles innovation is suspect, if not sin. And as a result, theologians and pastors who take this stance often criticize what I propose in my writings simply because it’s innovative. However,…