This audio-only message of teaching by Dr. Craig Smith was recorded at the 2011 Word Conference. For more content from the 2011 Word Conference, check out the full conference media set here.
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Read MoreFebruary 12, 2012 Category: Bible, Bible Curriculum, Bible Speakers, Biblical Studies, Craig Smith, Featured No Comments
Dr. Richard Bauckham, author of Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony will be appearing on the main stage at the 2012 Word Conference. Dr. Bauckham will be sharing some of his groundbreaking research into the evidence that the Gospels were written by first-hand observers (or people with access to such eyewitnesses)of the events they recorded.
Find out more about the 2012 Word Conference here.
Richard Bauckham was until recently Professor of New Testament Studies and Bishop Wardlaw Professor in the University of St Andrews, Scotland, and is now Professor Emeritus at St Andrews. He was born in London in 1946, and educated at Downhills and Merryhills primary schools and Enfield Grammar School. He then studied at Cambridge, where he read history at Clare College (gaining a B.A. Honours degree, first class, and a Ph.D.), and was a Fellow of St John’s College for three years. After teaching theology for one year at the University of Leeds, he taught historical and contemporary theology for fifteen years at the University of Manchester, before moving to St Andrews in 1992. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a …
Read MoreFebruary 6, 2012 Category: Apologetics, Bible, Bible Speakers, Biblical Reliability, Biblical Studies, Christian speakers, Faith & Culture, Featured No Comments
[please note that this article is written to be accessible to the average Christian, but deals with a complex subject that requires, at times, reference to detailed lines of evidence. Please refer to the footnotes for additional explanations and evidence for points made in the main body of the article]
Have you ever been following along in your Bible during a sermon and been distracted by seeing something like this: [the earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have verses 9-20]?[1] Worse, have you been distracted by such a comment only to be dismayed when the pastor skipped over it as though it wasn’t there, leaving your questions, concerns and maybe even doubts unacknowledged and unaddressed?
We don’t find these things very often in the Bible, but they are there, and it’s important for Christians to know how to think about them…and how to answer questions about them that come from our kids, from skeptics and seekers or even from an unsettled place in our own hearts.
In both of my roles as a pastor and a biblical scholar, …
Read MoreJanuary 18, 2012 Tags: ending of mark, ending of mark's gospel, longer ending of mark, mark, mark 16, mark 16:9-20
Category: Apologetics, Bible, Biblical Reliability, Biblical Studies, Craig Smith, Featured, Gospels, Tough Questions 5 Comments
by Craig Smith, Ph.D.
One of the common theological conflicts between Protestant and Catholic Christians relates to the practice of praying to the saints. Historically, Catholics have maintained that praying to the saints is a biblical practice while Protestants of averred that the practice cannot be justified biblically.
I am sometimes asked if there are specific biblical passages that speak against praying to the saints. While it might be nice to have that kind of direct teaching on the matter, there are no such texts. However, this does not mean that the issue is a gray area, open to debate and differing opinion. On the contrary, I think I can say with some certainty that praying to the saints cannot be justified biblically. The reason that there are no explicit statements against praying to the saints is simply that no biblical author had any need to address such a thing. This concept did not enter into the church until long after the canon of Scripture had been closed. Consequently, no biblical text directly speaks against a practice that the writers could not imagine needing to address.
In the Old Testament, it was well …
Read MoreJanuary 10, 2012 Tags: Catholic, Catholicism, chiasm, Philemon 1:5, prayer, prayers, praying, praying to the saints, saint worship, saints
Category: Apologetics, Biblical Studies, Catholic, Catholicism, Craig Smith, Featured, Prayers, Praying, Theology, Tough Questions 3 Comments
Christmas provides many opportunities for turning hearts and minds to God. One opportunity that is especially noteworthy during the holidays is the practice of hospitality. Think about it: when else are people more likely to open their homes for dinners, parties and other get-togethers? When are people more likely to accept an invitation to enter your home? Hospitality is an accepted part of our cultural landscape at Christmastime and it provides the followers of Jesus with a powerful – and natural – opportunity to bear witness to the lavish love of God.
Hospitality is more than merely letting people into your home and making them feel welcome. When understood in its proper biblical context and practiced according to the principles Scripture outlines, it becomes a powerful evangelistic tool.
In English, the term “hospitality” is used to refer to the practice of a host caring for his/her guests by providing for their needs. In the modern sense, the nature of the relationship between …
Read MoreDecember 14, 2011 Tags: Bible, biblical hospitality, Christmas, holidays, hospitable, Hospitality
Category: Biblical Studies, Christian Living, Christmas, Craig Smith, Faith & Culture, Featured, God's Will, Holidays, Thanksgiving, Theology 3 Comments
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