Last week I visited Yad Vashem, the memorial to the more than 6 million Jews who were killed in the Holocaust. I invite the reader to visit their website yadvashem.org, and to study indepth the enormity of the Holocaust, which I cannot begin to describe in this short space. Our wonderful guide, Dani, told about... Continue Reading →
How to Read Romans [Studies in Romans]
Certeza Unida and Kairos will publish my Romans commentary as part of their Comentario Bíblico Contemporáneo (Contemporary Bible Commentary). More than 160 scholars participated in the project. What follows is adapted from the section "How to Read Romans," in which I show its particular application for Latin America. The epistle to the Romans meets the... Continue Reading →
“Eye has not seen” – or has it? [Studies in 1 Corinthians]
What does it mean when Paul (quoting Isaiah) says “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived, the things God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Cor 2:9)? Is this a parallel to, for example, 1 Cor 13:12, “For now we see only a... Continue Reading →
My Time with the Koran, April 2016
Read the whole file here shogren_my-time-with-the-koran My reading the Koran is like a rock-and-roller trying to figure out what in the world that jazz trio is up to. Still, if I will opine that the Koran is right, wrong, or indifferent, I feel I should have at least a basic, first-hand awareness of what it actually... Continue Reading →
Love, sure, but during an election year?
A fresh preface to my essay, “The Forgotten Sign of the End Times: icy relations among God’s people.” I include here not only things I observe in others, but principally the things I'd like to root out of my own heart. The Lord's return may - or may not - be near, but no-one who reads church history... Continue Reading →
So: you love the Church, but are indifferent about the people in it?
"Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen." 1 John 4:20 NIV In John's language, "hate" isn't necessarily anything so vile as loathing, or despising, or cursing -... Continue Reading →
The Emperor Constantine the Great – a villain or a hero, or something in-between?
Download the article as a pdf: Shogren_The Emperor Constantine the Great – a villain or a hero, or something in-between To many, the Emperor Constantine was a saint: in the Orthodox church he is one of the “Equal-to-Apostles” (isapóstolos) a title given to people (such as Patrick, Cyril the evangelist of Russia and others) who were... Continue Reading →
“The Resurrection, Our Goal” 1 Thess 4:13-18 [Sermon Notes on 1 Thessalonians, Week 12]
Note: These are sermon outlines, not full messages. 13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God... Continue Reading →