12/19/2019

12/6/2019

7/9/2019

Karl Barth, the greatest theologian of the twentieth century, also served as a guest preacher and counselor in the Basel city prison. Because of his service, he was invited to speak to a convention of German prison chaplains and social workers. Questions were given in advance, but Barth’s responses were not scripted (but they were very long).

6/13/2019

5/15/2019

3/12/2019

12/4/2018

The pastoral value of Ellen Charry’s book is signaled by her deeply personal introduction: “The gap between eschatological happiness and temporal happiness needs to be addressed because people experience hardship and grief that sets them off balance, and they wonder whether they can ever be happy again in this life, or whether life amounts to no more than a vale of tears simply to be slogged through somehow in hopes of a heavenly reward.”

11/13/2018

Before Karl Barth was Karl Barth the famous theologian he was Karl Barth the pastor of a small church in Safenwil, a remote, insignificant Swiss village. Like most pastors, he preached Sunday after Sunday, and like many pastors, he was tormented by the relentless weekly demand that he have something to say. He acknowledged that “preaching gets more difficult for me all the time.” Normal pastor difficulty was deepened by disillusionment with his university teachers, classic liberal theologians who eagerly supported Germany’s part in the “Great War” that was ravaging Europe. That led Barth to begin reading the Bible as if for the first time. Difficulty also came from his effort to hear Scripture anew and to speak Scripture anew to his congregation.

10/16/2018

The PC(USA) has recently added the Belhar Confession to our Book of Confessions, bringing the total number of creeds, confessions, and catechisms to a dozen. We still don’t know what to do with them, however. Are they a collection of what people in other times and places confessed, or are they central to what we are called to believe and do? Are they are smorgasbord from which we may choose the dishes that suit us, or are we to receive the whole witness of our tradition? Are they to be mined for a list of essential tenets, or are we called to make corporate judgments about what is fundamental and what is marginal?

9/18/2018

9/5/2018

Ezekiel was surrounded by the ‘likeness’ of glory of the LORD, and he heard ‘someone’ speaking: “eat what is offered to you; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel” (Ezekiel 1:28, 3:1). Each week, pastors continue to eat what is offered to them, and continue to speak to the community of faith. From time to time, the Presbyterian Foundation will offer brief studies of Scripture that may be useful to pastors in teaching and preaching God’s word.

8/21/2018

How many English translations of the Bible do we need? New translations appear at a dizzying pace, each one promising superior accuracy and readability. The profusion of translations is evidence that they will all sell at a brisk pace – publishers publish what they think people will buy.