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. 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…
Blessed are the meek? Blessed are the peacemakers? by Peter D. Spychalla, Ph.D., D.Min. Assistant Professor of New Testament & Spiritual Formation The speech of a first-century Jewish prophet arrests me: “blessed are the meek, . . . blessed are the peacemakers.” It puzzles, intrigues. How can this be? What could he possibly mean? Why would anyone want to be peaceable and meek? Will his vision play in the theatre…
written by Dr. Peter D. Spychalla, Assistant Professor of New Testament & Spiritual Formation Perspectives on Paul—New and Old. New Testament scholarship of the past half century bears witness to vigorous debate, and voluminous literature, regarding the Apostle Paul’s understanding of first-century Judaism (how much legalism was present within its variegated nomism?) and his theology of justification and the atonement. Paul’s teaching in Galatians 2:16 stands at the heart of…
written by Andrew Kamm, pastor at Christ Community Church in Champaign, Urbana Theological Seminary Alumnus Let me open up with a bit of straight talk. This may surprise you, but carving out space in my day to read the Bible, pray, and relish the presence of God is not something that comes naturally for me. In fact, there are times when I am just bad at it. Inconsistency is likely…
written by Peter D. Spychalla, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of New Testament & Spiritual Formation Multiplying When Light is Dim. I just counted. It’s 177 plus three more. But that’s just upstairs in my home office—I’m always uncovering more hiding in the basement. When I go downstairs, quickly turn on the light, and scan those delightful bookshelves, I see more of them scattered among the books on prayer, books on spiritual formation,…
written by Peter D. Spychalla, Ph.D, Assistant Professor of New Testament & Spiritual Formation Cycle 1 — The water cycle. My family raises potatoes on a farm in Northern Wisconsin, a state that receives about 30 inches of precipitation annually and sits upon 1.2 quadrillion gallons of underground water . . . enough water to cover the state to a depth of nearly 100 feet. Life-giving water, falling from the…
written by Rick D. Williams Anyone whose life work centers on education or ministry experiences the familiar rhythm of the annual cycle. Our years are marked in quarters and semesters, by “ordinary” time contrasted with the “strong” seasons of Lent, Easter, Advent, and Christmas. We are come once again to the major transition point in both our academic and liturgical calendars. Reflection often accompanies transition, and this particular turn has…
Dr. Jeffrey Hallett Recently I have been convicted by the fact that I am a rich Christian, and generous, but I typically pay others to help the poor. Giving out of our abundance is something Jesus calls us to do, but how many of us actually know and love the needy, as Jesus did? When we speak to Him on Judgment Day, and He asks us what we have done…
By Dr. David K. Webb In the first chapter of his Gospel, Mark describes an encounter between Jesus and a leper. This particular leper, sufficiently confident of Jesus’ ability to make him “clean,” begs Him to also be willing to do so. In response to this request, most versions of the Bible describe Jesus as being “filled with compassion.” Some earlier versions describe Him as being “filled with anger.” Clearly,…
