One of the distinguishing features of Jesus’s teaching was the role he assigned to love. For Jesus, love was the summation of all that the Torah taught, as well as that which marked out his disciples as belonging to the kingdom of God. One...
Have you ever looked closely at Jesus’s story of the Good Samaritan? All knowledge begins with asking basic questions, and through the magic of internet technology, I know what people out there are asking about the Sermon on the Mount. I see...
The parables of Jesus are far less direct than doctrinal statements. Yet, they’re far more disruptive than simple illustrations. Parables held primacy in Jesus’s public ministry (Mark 4:2, 33–34), and they still inflame the imagination like...
The Lautenschlaeger Award is a prestigious academic prize awarded to ten doctoral or first post-doctoral works in theology and biblical studies. Each winner is awarded a financial prize and the opportunity to propose an international colloquium on a...
Does God give instruction on godly stewardship in the Bible? The short answer is yes. The Bible tells us that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), and at the heart of God’s all-encompassing love is generosity. As we seek to help the people we lead to...
We’re excited to share that Surprised by the Parables by Michelle Lee-Barnewall (available now from Lexham Press) was named a finalist for a 2021 Christian Book Award! The book walks through nine of Jesus’ parables to help readers see them in a new...
By Michelle Lee-Barnewall Why did Jesus teach in parables? We can find the answer in Matthew’s Gospel, where the disciples directly ask Jesus why he speaks in parables. Scripture tells us, The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to...
“The kingdom of heaven is like…” With these words, Jesus begins on of many parables, arguably his most-used teaching method. If we don’t know how parables work, we get much of Jesus’ teaching flat wrong. In this video (transcript below), professor...
By Kevin Vanhoozer This excerpt from Kevin Vanhoozer highlights the importance of not just hearing God’s voice but truly listening with the intent to obey what he says. In perhaps the most famous Arabian Nights story, Aladdin discovers a magic...