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Preaching: monologue or dialogue?

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Most evangelicals would, I suppose, think that ‘proper’ preaching consists of a prepared speech, delivered without interruption to a group a silent listeners.  The use of dialogue would be thought to ‘water down’ the content and authority of the message, by allowing what was being said to be questioned or even doubted.

But these assumptions should themselves be questioned, writes Ian Paul (here,here and here).

Consider the biblical evidence.  Ian Paul quotes Jeremy Thomson:

Much of Jesus’ teaching was given ‘on the way’ and involved a high degree of interaction with the audience (Mark 8.27–10.52).  …

Tabernacle: symbolism and meaning

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Writing in the Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, John Oswalt says that, while it is possible to read too much into the detailed instructions for the construction of the tabernacle (in Exodus 25ff), the main points are clear enough.

I summarise:

Several colours are significant.  White suggests the purity of God and the needed purity of his people.  Blue indicates God’s transcendence; purple, his royalty, and red, the blood that must be shed if sinful humans are to approach a holy God.…

Tabernacle and temple in the Bible story

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The tabernacle and temple were alike the meeting place between God and people.  Indeed, the tabernacle, which was at first a moveable structure, found a permanent home in Solomon’s temple.

But, actually, the story begins not in Exodus but at the beginning of Genesis.  As many scholars have observed, the garden of Eden was itself a kind of temple, for it to was the meeting place between God and his people.  Not surprising, then, that there are so many allusions to the creation narrative in the instructions for the construction of the tabernacle in Exodus 25ff.…

The tabernacle – God’s dwelling place

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Christians sometimes regard the accounts of the tabernacle, temple and priestly service as tedious and irrelevant.  This is a mistake.  They point to a vital reality – the presence of God with his people.

The tabernacle itself is of seminal importance.  It is the first in an important series (tabernacle, temple, incarnation, church, new Jerusalem).  The account of its construction is much more detailed than that of the temple (see 1 Kings 5-8), and the tabernacle found a permanent home in the latter structure. …

Incarnation and the tabernacle

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James K. Bruckner writes:

‘The tabernacle provided, for the first time since Eden, a place for the visible presence of God in the midst of the people.’

He adds: ‘the Gospel of John provides a window that helps Christians interpret the significance of the tabernacle in relation to the incarnation.’

Consider John 1:14-15a – ‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory.’

  1. ‘The Word became flesh’ ‘matches the detailed descriptions of the tent of meeting as a location of God’s presence (Exod.
…

Creation and the tabernacle

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As Rabbinic interpreters have long recognised, there are many echoes of the creation narrative (Genesis 1-2) in the description of the tabernacle in Exodus 25-40).

  1. ‘The Spirit of God, present at creation (Gen. 1:2) filled Bezalel and the craftsmen who created the tabernacle with creative gifts (Exod. 31:1–11).’
  2. ‘Israel made the tabernacle, even as God made the world, as a dwelling place for God (Exod. 25:8–9; Ps. 104:1–4).’
  3. ‘God instructed them to erect the tabernacle on New Year’s Day to underscore this new beginning (Exod.
…

The cost of family breakdown

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The emotional costs of family breakdown are immense.

But the financial costs of family breakdown, are, in their own way, no less shocking.

The estimated cost is £51 billion.

The biggest contributor (about 45%) to this figure is the support that the state provides to lone parent families by way of tax credits, housing benefits and lone parent benefits.

Second comes the cost of care of children and adults.  It is estimated that ’98 per cent of the cost of looking after children in care, two thirds of the cost of social services for looking after children at home, and 5-10 per cent of the cost of care services for the elderly, [may be attributed] to family breakdown.’…

Gay marriage and the ‘trajectory’ of Scripture

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The ‘trajectory’ argument, briefly, is that there are certain practices (such as slavery) that are permitted in Scripture, but Scripture itself sows the seeds of their eventual abolition.  Conversely, there are certain practices (such as same-sex relations) that are forbidden in Scripture, but Scripture itself sows the seeds of their acceptance.

The Bishop of Bangor in the Church in Wales, Andy John, has invoked such a trajectory argument in his support of marriage for homosexual couples.…