James Dunn's Baptism In The Holy Spirit

Today, I am reminded of a saying: “there are places in the heart that do not exist, pain must be so that they may be”. In the past, I reasoned this saying to be a metaphor for compassion…that as we work through our pain, we become more connected and loving toward others. What I discovered is; that introspective examination assigning the meaning to pain and painful events is soul work while the work of connecting and loving others is a good but superficial start.

Through the introduction, “Point of Departure,” the author opens up his telling with that there are many God-seekers in every land. Whether one faith carrys or the parts share in counterpoint, the God-seekers’ voices are being lifted to the God of all life. In this introduction, Huston Smith explains what this book is about. He says that this book is “not a textbook in the history of religions.” (Smith, p.2) In order to focus on the foundation of religions, locations and time of events are limited to the minimum. It “does not attept to give a rounded view of the religions considered.” (p.2) It tried to do reasonable justice to several perspectives instead of attempting to catalogue many types. When he decides which view to present, the guideline

The American Enlightenment and the Great Awakening were two very important motivators that changed the colonial society in America through religious beliefs, educational values, and the right to live one’s life according to each individual’s preference.

This article, written by a highly-respected author, effectively discusses topics that I will be utilizing for the problem and solution sections of my final paper. For the solution section, Ehrenreich reports that “we should just stop the meanness, the relentless persecution of people who are already having a hard time.” In her article, Barbara Ehrenreich discusses the relevance of an argument she made a couple of years back in a book called Nickel and Dimed regarding the unfair conditions poor people often face. Essentially, an extreme number of Americans are paid less than what they can live on. Ehrenreich advocates for the creation of opportunities to allow poor people to get back on their feet and live a

many years later in his second monthly known as the Millennial Harbinger. It was the idea of “Baptism by Emersion” Campbell claimed was essential to receive salvation. Through the Christian system and Christian Baptism (two books Alexander Campbell wrote over baptism) Alexander Campbell breaks down the creeds of Episcopalian, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptists showing that they all have the same common belief that sanctification comes through the cognitive decision by ones self to be baptized (fully immersed). Though he claims it is evident that all these denominations are too afraid to carry this belief out in their faith or in their practice (Christian system-remission of sins, Prop.XII) . This same belief in “Baptizo” (to submerge) drew Campbell to debate Maccalla in 1823(action of baptism, part2). Where Campbell justified his beliefs in cognitive baptism by emersion heavily

The prominent theme that the story, “The Man Who Saw Through Heaven” by Wilbur D. Steele revolves around is how people let the words of others affect/change them as deeply as they do. A pivotal point in the story that exemplifies the theme was when Mr. Krum, a Christian scientist, explained his belief to Reverend Diana about how Earth could merely be a little stone on a ring on another organism's tentacle (315). That thought altered how Reverend Diana saw the world, and Christianity. This consequently changed how he would spend the rest of his life. He replied saying “May be a--ring--a little stone--in a--a--a--ring.” which exemplified his disbelief at the notion of the world being virtually insignificant because he couldn’t even formulate

Matthew and Luke were both evangelists. They both helped to spread the Gospel, the good news of Jesus. Their telling of the Gospel is very similar, yet very different at the same time. They are similar because they both tell the same story. Meanwhile they are different because the events aside from the fact that Jesus was born are all very different. Specifically the infancy narratives differ in particular ways that may cause the audience to question which infancy narrative is more correct. This essay will compare the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke and will show how the infancy narrative of Luke previews the themes of Luke’s Gospel.

The authority of the Scripture is fundamental to evangelical faith and witness. But at the same time, not all evangelicals affirm the inerrancy of the scripture. Biblical inerrancy affirms that the biblical text is accurate and totally free from error of any kind. The difficulty in affirming the inerrancy of scripture does not seem to be so much on the spiritual and moral teachings of the Bible, however, the difficulty perhaps seems to emerge on the issue of accuracy in other disciplines such as history, science and acheology. This being the case, Five Views on Biblical Inerrancy is a book on the doctrine of inerrancy where five Christian scholars, R. Albert Mohler Jr., Peter Enns, Michael F. Bird, Kevin J. Vanhoozer, and John R. Franke discuss their various perspectives on biblical inerrancy, narrowing the focus on four significant issues – (1) God and his relationship to his creatures, (2) the doctrine of inspiration, (3) the nature of scripture, and (4) the nature of truth (Merrick & Garrett, 2013, p. 22).

In Thomas Long’s The Witness of Preaching, he aims to urge the reader to become a reliable witness of the gospel by way of ample preparation before entering a pulpit. The text offers to the reader a deeper understanding of the ministry of preaching. A useful component of the text contains informative bits of information that make the reader aware of the lengthy but necessary preparation needed for an adequate explanation of the scripture. Of primary importance is the consideration of the congregation when a preacher is first approaching the text. This point is of vital importance as it signifies that the speaker is a member of the body of Christ and the congregation. Such understanding is a reminder that the preacher is an unworthy vessel being

The Gospel of Luke has no explicitly specified time that is was written. Some say between 58 and 65 AD, while others say as late as 70 to 90 AD. While they may not agree on the time, Luke’s gospel is widely viewed as the most meticulous and detailed, including many facts that the other authors failed to include, as a result, it is also the longest. Luke collated his information from a variety of sources and tried to come to more logical, reasonable and accurate ways of personifying Jesus. He was a known companion of Paul and is also said to have written the Acts of the Apostles. He is also recorded to have taken into consideration a lot of eye-witness accounts and opinions. Historians say that Luke was most likely a physician

The encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus (John 3) offered divergent biblical interpretations with regards to the development of Christian baptism. There have been dissimilar interpretations for and against a reference to Christian baptism in John 3. Basically, the paper seeks to explore the encounter in John 3 and its importance for the understanding of Christian baptism. Though the paper affirms references and exact meaning to Christian baptism as presented in John 3, there will also be a presentation of arguments against such assertions. These arguments which are contrary to references of Christian baptism in John 3 are presented to help outline their flaws and misconceptions. In other words, they solidify the importance of the

The Reform position of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is possibly the most commonly held position in the American mid-west. Walter Kaiser is a brilliant theologian but very typical in his assessment of the Holy Spirit’s representation in the New Testament. Kaiser does a masterful job of presenting the theological and chronological exegesis of the Holy Spirit without jumping off the Calvinist cliff. He makes an excellent observation of seeing the Pauline letters as didactic and Lukan letters as narrative, but falls short of full scholarship by asserting that narrative passages could not be doctrinal in scope. Kaiser also stays true to the conversion initiation theory by using 1 Corinthians 12:13 as the proof text for one Spirit and his defense against subsequence. I also appreciated that Kaiser did not try

The religious arguments precisely mean that experiences are part of religion and contribute towards ups and downs of faith, achievement and doubts. The religious experiences are ones which are connected to God or God’s action.

2 Peter and Jude are books found near the end of the New Testament. The authors of these books are Simon Peter, the apostle, and Jude, the brother of James and the half-brother of Jesus. Jude was written in about A.D. 65, and 2 Peter around A.D. 67, both during the reign of Emperor Nero. They are often simple “grazed through” by believers because of their shortness in nature. However, an intricate study of these works beneath their surface reveals many hidden gems. The two books are often said to be complementary, working hand in hand to bring a specific message to the Christian audience. This essay will be a discussion into the similarities between 2 Peter and Jude.

Paul’s pneumatology found in his writings has been a matter of interest in recent New Testament scholarship. Gordon Fee has been a great contributor in this area and in Paul, the Spirit and the People of God he outlines the various elements found in Pauline pneumatology giving us greater insight into this subject. In this paper I will highlight some of these elements that are unique to Paul and are not found in the Synoptic Gospels and Acts.