The Bible and the Education of Children: Lessons from Alexander Campbell, RQ article by Samjung Kang-Hamilton

…most of the prior literature has ignored his [AC] understanding of the education of children in the Bible.  This essay will begin to close that gap and suggest ways in which an understanding of Campbell would help strengthen children’s ministry in Churches of Christ today.  The following sections will examine Campbell’s views on (1) the [...]

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The Sayings of the Fathers on reading Scripture

The nature of water is soft, that of a rock is hard. But if a narrow-necked bottle is hung above a stone, drop by drop the water wears away the rock. So it is with the word of God: it is soft and our heart is hard. But when a person hears the word of [...]

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Word-Alone Doctrine by R. H. Boll: A Voice from 1917

WORD-ALONE DOCTRINE. There is a well-defined tendency among Christians to dissociate God from his word. It comes to the point that God himself is not needed or directly involved in the matter of our salvation.  The word is all.  As a writer in a certain paper some years ago illustrated it: “the only way the [...]

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Gregory the Great on reading Scripture

Holy Scripture is presented to the mind’s eye as a kind of mirror so that our inner appearance can be seen in it. In this mirror we recognize both the ugliness and the beauty of our soul. We can tell what progress we are making, or see our utter lack of progress…The virtues of people [...]

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Basil of Caesarea on reading Scripture

The best way to discover our duty is to study the divinely inspired Scriptures, for in them we find both instructions about conduct and the lives of blessed men, delivered in writing. They are laid before us like having images of the godly life for the imitation of their good works. When we devote ourselves [...]

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Origen on reading Scripture

You then, my true son, give primary attention to reading the divine Scriptures. Be attentive: for we must be attentive when reading the things of God, so that we not say or think anything too reckless about them…Being attentive to divine reading, seek correctly and with unwavering faith in God the meaning of the divine [...]

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Theonas on reading Scripture

Let no day pass by without reading–at a suitable time–some portion of the sacred lessons, allowing time for meditation.  And never cast off the practice of reading the sacred Scriptures; for nothing feeds the soul and enriches the mind as much as those sacred lessons do. Theonas was Bishop of Alexandria, Egypt ca. 281-300.  This [...]

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The Story

Not long ago I listened online to my long-time friend Chris Harrell preach about Joseph.  Chris is pinch-hitting for Jimmy Adcox at Southwest Church in Jonesboro, AR.  For a season they are preaching through the biblical narrative from beginning to end.  It appears they are at the same time intentionally tying the stories of life [...]

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thoughts on teaching

Andrew Phillips blogged this a few days ago: I am preparing to talk to some teachers about Bible teaching at a conference in a few weeks, and I could use some feedback from people in different congregations on these questions. Plus, if you post responses in the comments, it might be helpful to anyone else [...]

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Survey Says

While I may have blogged little in the last six weeks, I did think about it.  One of the things I mulled over was the survey on the side-bar to your right.  Here are the results of the latest survey: In the ‘other’ category three responses were submitted: 1. combination of exegetical with motivational (modern-day [...]

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