Random

~ Brevard Childs, a centrist Old Testament scholar of note has died. Here is a short biography.

~ George Barna's latest study indicates that Americans have been overestimating the extent of poverty in the US. But as I see it, Americans are prone to overestimation and overstatement. It's a part of our national nature. While we may overstate the extent of the problem, we're also overstating our commitment to dealing with it.

~ Scot McKnight's summary on loving homosexuals is helpful stuff.

~ Oh my word! Christopher Wright's book The Mission of God arrived today. It's massive! I'm a slow reader and the book is so thick. It is Wright's contention that mission is the driving hermeneutical force behind the entire Bible -- the defining paradigm. It looks really good.

~ Another recent arrival on my desk, but not nearly as daunting, is Elizabeth Newman's new book Untamed Hospitality: Welcoming God and Other Strangers. She sees hospitality as the defining paradigm of the church. (Am I still allowed to use the word "paradigm" or is that passé -- a 90's thing -- I hope not. It's a good word.)