Bible and Mission

  In Paul’s letters, he not only discusses theology and ethics but also very practical matters for the churches to which he writes.   One of these more practical matters appears in 1 Corinthians 14, where Paul discusses ten ways in which the church can and should conduct itself in order to maintain ‘decency and order’.   Much of what he says is straight-forward, and perhaps the only section that has caused some confusion is what Paul says about women in this chapter.   In this brief article, I will offer my explanation of the verses, but the main purpose for writing it is to highlight the fact that the whole chapter is about practical ways in which the congregation might put into practice the principle of doing all things in decency and in order. The first check on disorderly worship is that the worship service should not be for someone’s personal, religious experience but for building up, encouraging, and consoling others in the church.   For this reason, pro...

Introduction   In Scripture, we read several prayers of confession.  Two famous ones are prayers of confession for the sins of the nation, Israel.  Both take place after the exile.  The prayer of Daniel (ch. 9) is his prayer for the nation and takes place while the Jews are still in exile.  This is, therefore, the prayer of a righteous person on behalf of the whole nation for their sins.  The prayer of Nehemiah takes place after the return from exile to Jerusalem and is a national repentance led by Nehemiah and representative elders, with the people gathered (ch. 9).  The prayer of confession in Psalm 51, on the other hand, is a personal prayer for personal sin.  The prayer of Jonah from the belly of the fish in chapter 2 is of the same sort.   Let’s look at Jonah’s prayer.  I remember my Hebrew professor in seminary telling us that he would read this prayer exactly as it sounded.  We expected to hear what Hebrew sounded like so...

 [Originally published as   ‘Transformation Mission Theology: Its History, Theology and Hermeneutics,’ Transformation 2007 (Vol. 24, 4): 193-212] Introduction Since an intentional mission theology of transformation was first articulated at a consultation in Wheaton in 1983, [1] several writings have appeared to express its convictions and practices.   An examination of such articles in the recently published collection edited by Vinay Samuel and Chris Sugden, Mission as Transformation , [2] leaves one reviewer, Haddon Willmer, wondering whether a rigorous and consistent theology of transformation has emerged. [3]   Willmer raises two concerns in particular: the meaning of the term ‘transformation’ appears to be used too loosely and needs clarification for a theology of mission, and the theology of transformation needs to be articulated with regard to wider discussions in theology and missions.   These concerns call for robust scholarship in mission history,...