

10 Lessons on Teaching: From Students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Part 1
Recently at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, fifteen students in a writing course taught by Professor Catherine Prendergast wrote a response to published essays in the New York Times and Slate, which focused on approaches to lecturing. The response of...
Christmas Thanks and Joy to the World, in Good Times and in Bad
I’m sitting at my desk, writing thoughtfully, with Christmas music in the background. I am able to focus on the writing until Julie Andrews’ Joy to the World begins with its introductory repetitions: “Joy to the…Joy to the…Joy to the…Joy to the…” I realize after a few...
“Wheaton Tiff” Highlights Differences Between Islam and Christianity, Invites Higher-Ed Integrity
The Bible’s claims are hard to miss that there is one God who exists in three persons (Deut 6:4, Is 48:12, 16, Mt 28:19, Jn 1:1, 8:56-59, Col 1:15, Heb 1:3, Rev 22:13). The biblical claims especially revolve around assertions that Jesus Christ is divine, and not...
“The most effective leadership, management, and efficiency models share traits common with each other, and traits that are ultimately traceable to the pages of the Bible. While these models are often not intentionally rooted in Biblical concepts by those that promote the models, the models illustrate how applying Biblical principles can set a trajectory of success in enterprise and in life. Led By a Lion is designed to introduce some of these leadership, management, and efficiency models, but goes a step further in identifying the Biblical genesis of many of the core traits that fuel the success of these models.”
Special Thanks to Southern California Seminary and Calvary Bible College and Seminary
How does one make a choice between amazing and fantastic? That is the challenge with which my family and I have been faced in recent days, as we considered where God would have us serve in higher-education ministry. Nearly two years ago my family and I had the...
Design for a Healthy Church, and the Four Legs of Outreach
The ultimate purpose of the church – as individual members and as a corporate body – is to glorify God (1 Cor 10:31, Eph 1:6, 12, 14; Col 3:17). The recipe for achieving that goal includes four major prescriptions: (1) Bible teaching, (2) fellowship, (3) praise and...
Helpful Bible Study Solution for PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad: e–Sword
e–Sword is outstanding, free Bible study software, that bills itself as, “a fast and effective way to study the Bible…feature rich and user friendly with more capabilities than you would expect in a free Bible app. The fact that e-Sword is free is just one of the...
“This approach has the advantage of seeking to view all knowledge through the lens of Scripture, and to subject all knowledge to the authority of Scripture. It encourages science and research within the field of psychology. It offers a Biblical balance of description and prescription. Of course, if the Bible is unreliable, then the refractive power of Scripture is distortive rather than corrective, but the epistemological premise of this approach is that God’s word is authoritative and sufficient for our understanding, for our equipping, and for our practice. There are many extra-biblical resources that we can employ, but in seeking out how and when to do that, we mustn’t lose sight of the one reliable constant that God has provided for us – the Bible.” –Chapter 9
Gifted makes Amazon’s Hot New Releases list for Kindle (Christian Theology/Pneumatology)
Thank you to all the supportive readers who helped the Kindle version of Gifted: Understanding the Holy Spirit and Unwrapping Spiritual Gifts reach #22 on Amazon's Kindle Best Sellers (for Christian Theology/Pneumatology) yesterday, and put it on Amazon's "Hot New...
10 New Testament Evidences for the Divinity of Jesus Christ
#1: The Word John 1:1 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.“ Jesus was in the beginning (He had no beginning), He was with God, and He was God. The grammatical structure of the passage supports the idea that Jesus was the...
Interview with Grace Theology Press
Christopher Cone interviewed by Todd Mathis of Grace Theology Press, November 2015: Tell our audience a little about your ministry. I serve in a few different roles. I am at Southern California Seminary (which is connected to Shadow Mountain Community Church...
“The Green Tree is an exceptional work…provides a vital tool for every Bible interpreter…Just as the root system is the foundation of a tree and directly impacts the health of a tree, hermeneutic method is at the root of one’s worldview. This illustration demonstrates that the hermeneutic method that an interpreter of the Bible employs will significantly affect the outcome. The tree will either be healthy, or it will not be healthy…The authors provide a unique examination of Revelation, Genesis, and Job that demonstrates that the LGH hermeneutic is derived from within Scripture, something that other hermeneutical methods fail to demonstrate. This is perhaps the most crucial principle demonstrated in The Green Tree, and it effectively demonstrates that the LGH hermeneutic is also the Biblical hermeneutic.” – Andrew Friend (Amazon Review)
1 John 2:2 – Does Grace Extend to Everyone?
Presented to the 2015 Free Grace Alliance National Conference, October 13, 2015. INTRODUCTION A literal translation of 1 John 2:2 reads as follows: “And He a...
New Book Announcement – Gifted: Understanding the Holy Spirit and Unwrapping Spiritual Gifts
Available now from Exegetica Publishing is a new book by Dr. Christopher Cone – Gifted: Understanding the Holy Spirit and Unwrapping Spiritual Gifts. ISBN#: 978-0976593089 Pages: 201 Price: $13 (available at Amazon, and other booksellers) Description: The Christian...
What to make of non-Christian cultures dreaming about Jesus
Nabeel Qureshi, author of Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, describes the significance of dreams in Islamic culture, saying, In Muslim cultures, generally speaking, people don't see themselves as being able to commune with God. Communion is a very Christian concept...
New Book Announcement: Introduction à l’herméneutique et à la méthode d’étude biblique
Available now, from Publications Chrétiennes is a new book by Dr. Christopher Cone –Introduction à l'herméneutique et à la méthode d'étude biblique, the French translation of Prolegomena on Biblical Hermeneutics and Method. ISBN#978-2-89082-259-7 Pages: 268 pages...
Principles of Teaching: The key to effective illustrating
Every good craftsman has a toolbox – perhaps more than one. When there is a job to be done, a skilled craftsman does not assess the job primarily based on what tools can be used to get the job done. Instead, the focus is on what tools are needed in order to get the...
Dr. Gary Gilley’s Review of Redacted Dominionism
Redacted Dominionism, A Biblical Approach to Grounding Environmental Responsibility,by Christopher Cone (Eugene, Oregon: WIPF & Stock, 2012)Paper, pp. 122, $17.00. Available at Amazon ($12.60). Review by Dr. Gary Gilley, initially in Journal of...

Does Every Believer Have a Spiritual Gift?
The phrase spiritual gift is only employed five times in the NASB New Testament, In Romans 1:11 (χάρισμα ὑμῖν πνευματικὸν) it is in reference to something Paul wanted to impart to the entire church at Rome. In 1 Corinthians 12:1, Paul prefaces the entire discussion of...

9 Steps for Bible Exegesis and Exposition, Step #9: Development of Exposition
This is a step where we can easily derail. Even if we have done our first seven steps well – handling the text accurately and comprehensively – and even if our eighth step has helped us to have confidence that we have grasped the meaning of the passage, there is still...

Q&A: If Completed Canon Ends Prophecy, What About Revelation 11?
Question: If the perfect of 1 Corinthians 13:10 refers to the completion of God’s revelation to the church, and thus prophecy is done away with the completion of the canon, then how can it be that in Revelation 11 the two prophets are inarguably prophesying? ...

Wikipedia, the Meaning of Life, and How Philosophy Still Matters
“The unexamined life,” said Socrates, “isn’t worth living.” And apparently, Wikipedia proves that we still agree with his sentiment 2400 years later. The Epicurean Dealmaker performed an interesting experiment to demonstrate the intellectual proximity of philosophy to...