

An Election Day Reminder: Balancing the Present and Future
Election Day gives us a sense that we can have some influence over world events. As world events remind us of the frailty of society and of our own lives, attentions are easily drawn to the future. But our attention should not be drawn simply to the great big things...
The Church at Ephesus as a Case Study in Safeguarding the Institution From Worldview Drift
Presented to the TRACS National Conference, Dallas, TX, October 29, 2015 [gview...
Tomorrowland Not a George Clooney Environmental Critique
From my guest article at patheos.com: Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland was initially panned as “George Clooney’s global warming shaming,” but it has much greater aspirations than simply an environmental agenda piece. Roger Ebert recognized a broader ambition when he termed...
“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.”
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...
“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
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...
“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)
The Auschwitz Legacy and the (Non) Advancement of Man
I was invited to speak at a conference in Poland recently (on Biblical hermeneutics and theological method, in case you were curious), and while there I had an opportunity to visit Auschwitz. I am not much of a tourist or a sightseer, but there are just some things...
Planned Parenthood Issues Symptomatic of Deep-Seated Problem
During the fiscal years of 2009-2014 alone, Planned Parenthood performed 1,650,024 abortions.[1] In the same five years, Planned Parenthood provided more than twice as many breast exams (3,254,136)[2] as abortions – along with a host of other services related...
10 Reasons Market Meltdowns Not Cause for Panic
Today is not looking like it will be an encouraging day for financial markets around the world, and predictably this news cycle will probably be dominated by ominous financial news. This is a difficult time for many, but doesn’t need to be cause for hopelessness or...
How Shall We Then Live: The Christian’s Constant Choice Between Two Paths
In a section of Paul’s Letter to the Galatians explaining how Christians should handle the freedom they have in Christ, there is a very practical contrast of two modes of life: walking by the Spirit and walking according to the flesh. Paul introduces the...
The Ministry of the Holy Spirit in Christ
While the Holy Spirit has an incredible ministry directly to believers, that is certainly not His only role. Before the Spirit’s present ministry in the church, He also interacted with Christ in several profound ways. As we understand the relationship of Christ and...
The Role of the Holy Spirit in Our Understanding of Scripture
The theological term most commonly used by theologians to express the role of the Holy Spirit in Biblical understanding is illumination. While the term isn’t directly used of the Holy Spirit, the concept is present, for example in John 1:5 and 1:9, “The Light shines...

History of the Problem of Evil, Part 1
The seemingly unavoidable contradiction between the existence of a personal God and the reality of evil provides a crucial point of entry not only for discussion both of (1) argument for and against the existence of God and (2) the nature and character of such a God,...

Hypocrisy, A&E, Phil Robertson, and Us: Lessons to Be Learned
So let’s recap. Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame was quoted in a GQ interview as saying, “It seems like, to me, a vagina – as a man – would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean,...

Aesthetics as an Example of the Cross-Disciplinary Pervasiveness of the Problem of Evil
Where do theology and philosophy intersect, and at what points can they be observed as doing so? For Aquinas, theology was a subset of philosophy – a part, actually. He describes the relationship saying, …all things which “are” are dealt with in the philosophical...

9 Steps for Bible Exegesis and Exposition, Step #7: Identify Theological Context
In Step #6, we considered Biblical context, examining contexts on the basis of immediate and near textual proximity. In Step #7, our concern is theological context – a contextual consideration of theologically (topically) similar passages. The goal here is not to...