Attending the conference, I thought I would share a few takeaways from it. The way the conference is set up, everyone joins in the initial plenary address (being the meaning of plenary after all). After that, the rest of the day is several breakout sessions, 5 at a time. Because of that, one can only …
Category: Commentary
Did Samson Look Like Someone Who Might Have Sand Kicked in His Face?
I recall the comic books from the 1970s with the goofy advertisements. Along with the Sea Monkeys and X-Ray glasses was a mini-comicstrip advertising an exercise regimen associated with bodybuilder Charles Atlas (aka Angelo Siciliano). His regimen, built around "dynamic tension," I believe, was promoted to teenage boys. The short comic had a scrawny young …
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Holy Week as an Act of Protest
I don't repost very often. However, we are entering Holy Week 2026 and post I did regarding hope seems more relevant than ever. https://munsonmissions.org/2016/02/04/as-a-protest/ Happy Protesting Week!
Challenge of “Being Nice” in Religious Conversations
I was watching one of only a few Religious YouTube channels I peruse--- Gospel Simplicity. In this one, the creator was communicating about what he liked about the Catholic church. It should be noted that the creator is not Roman Catholic. He is actually Anglican. He likes to bring together dialogue between Roman Catholics, Protestants, …
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The God of Big and Small
Years ago I lived out in the country, on a hill. It was known as "Woodchuck Hill," and that may indicate how disconnected it was from cities and towns. Light pollution was not a thing there. If I walked outside of my house on a clear moonless night, the only artificial light was from a …
Can There Be a Turing Test for Theology?
I was watching a video on the Youtube Channel, "Gospel Simplicity," where the question "Is ChatGPT a Theologian?" was addressed. There was some good talk about that with two major points. Real theology comes from a place of (1) faith, and (2) faith community. Theological reflection without faith is simply Biblical Studies or Religious Studies. …
Were There Evangelists in the Early Church?
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. -Ephesians 4:11-13 This …
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Power-Restrained Missions and the Temptations of Christ
I have sought to promote "Powerless" Missions. While this sounds strange to some people, it is not far from mainstream missions. Vulnerable Missions is a movement that is popularized and missiologists and missional theologians commonly promote an avoidance of missionaries utilizing money or authority to control and manipulate. But I also get the problem. The …
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Baptist and the Struggle of History
I don't normally deal with "Baptist" questions on this website. However, I was raised in an Independent (Fundamentalist) Baptist Church, and am now a member of a Southern Baptist Church, and teach at a (Filipino) Southern Baptist seminary. I suppose it is good once in a while to discuss some issues. One of our seminary …
Joy of Missing Out
I am slow in learning and using online acronyms. I only learned what FOMO meant perhaps a year ago ("fear of missing out"). Only a few days ago I learned JOMO--- "Joy of Missing Out." As a shy introvert I missed out on a lot, especially when I was young. But even then there was …