Welcome back to another Fall semester (albeit a strange one!). Our UTS blog has been silent this summer. In the last post, Dr. Ken Cuffey pointed us to Jesus’ Great Commandment – to love our neighbors as ourselves. The circumstances of the COVID pandemic, racial justice demonstrations and economic upheaval have been a period of testing for our country and certainly for the bride of Christ. It has been a…
By Dr. Ken Cuffey, President, Urbana Theological Seminary June 16, 2020 What are we as followers of Jesus to make of all that’s happened in these last several weeks? For some it’s been painful, agonizing, angering, while others have discovered a clarified focus for their energies. Whatever we feel, we need to remind ourselves that God’s clear call to us is to love your neighbor as yourself. This is vital…
Dr. Kenneth Cuffey Mary from Magdala: first witness of the resurrected Jesus on Easter Sunday, fellow traveler with the 12, financial supporter of the 12, present at the cross and at the tomb. One of the more puzzling characters around Jesus in the gospels is Mary Magdalene. Clearly she was important, even pivotal in her role among the circle of the disciples, and without question Jesus made an amazing impact…
By Dr. Melody Green In his autobiography Surprised by Joy, C. S. Lewis describes how, when he was a young atheist, he read a book that he described as having “baptized my imagination.” That book was Phantastes, a fantasy novel written by the Victorian Scottish author, pastor and poet George MacDonald. Later, Lewis explains that even though he did not have a name for it at the time, what he…
Should we engage in germ line genetic engineering to put an end to inheritable genetic disease? Is it ever okay to use hormones and/or gender reassignment surgery? Does obedience to the command “Be fruitful and multiply”? (Gen. 1:28) justify using a surrogacy? Is capital punishment contrary to the gospel? Can the divorced ever serve in the church, or remarry? Can violence ever be justified in the name of peace? What…
By Lawson Lau Long before the concept of freedom of speech made its way into the consciousness of the Western world, China practiced it during the Golden Age of Chinese Thought (770-221 B.C.). In the centuries-long ferment of contrasting viewpoints, Chinese philosophers or thinkers maintained that humans are born good and are perfectible (Confucius & Mencius); humans are born evil, wicked, greedy, lustful (Hsun Tzu & Han Fei Tzu); and…
By Dr. Peter Spychalla The religious poet, a worshipper of Israel’s God, YHWH, exclaimed, “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long” (Psalm 119:97). Biblical authors commend, through command and example, sustained reflection on God, His character, His works, His ways, His plans, and His instruction as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and upon truth and wisdom discerned in human life and from the world…
By Dr. Melody Green The Babylon Bee, a satirical online website focusing on contemporary Christian culture, recently ran an article titled “Banned from Playing Violent Video Games, Local Kid Settles for Reading Old Testament.” It explains that when a boy’s parents banned his video games on the grounds that they were too violent, he discovered stories in the Old Testament that were every bit as satisfyingly brutal. What makes this…
Dr. Andrew Blaski As twenty-first century Christians, we sometimes treat the New Testament as though it were written in a vacuum, without considering how it was received (and indeed, compiled) by those who immediately followed its composition. It doesn’t always occur to us that there were men and women who actually knew the apostles, and that those individuals may have written down all sorts of interesting and important things about early Christian belief and…
In this blog entry, Dr. Melody Green shares a couple of her experiences as a college teacher dealing with a series of books that is now twenty years old and just as popular as it ever was. Several years ago, when I was teaching a class called Foundations of Children’s Literature to future teachers at a public university, one of the required texts was a book from the Harry…
