The why and the whither before the what of “missional” or “prophetic” church practice

This is a half-baked response to someone who got in touch with some questions after reading Why the missional church must also be prophetic:

One thing I’ve noticed, not only in your writing but across much of the missional literature I read, is that the insights can often feel quite abstract or technical. They’re biblically and theologically grounded, but sometimes hard to translate into tangible action. Two questions came to mind as I read: What are some concrete examples of how your missiological model is being/can be lived out today? And how might a small group of people longing to embody this vision begin in their own local context?

Read more...
Who would be rewarded on the day of God’s wrath against the Jew and the Greek?
Paul makes reference in Romans 2:7 to people who “by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality” (ESV). Who are they, what are they seeking, and what do they get on the day of God’s wrath? I ask because the question came up in an X/Twitter exchange, and I want to take the… ( | 5 comments)
Psalms of Solomon and Romans 1:1-17: The “Son of God” and the identity of Jesus
I really shouldn’t be going on about this, but I keep running into the same issue, and it is irksome. Reading Romans in Context: Paul and Second Temple Judaism (2015), edited by Blackwell, Goodrich, and Maston, ought to be a useful, if elementary, resource for exploring the abundant… ( | 1 comment)
Jesus and empire, state and church
There is an obvious contradiction—at least in the popular imagination—between the values of Jesus and the practices of Christendom, and it is not surprising that what is left of the Christendom church in the West now largely views its past with horror and shame. Surely, the conversion of the Roman… ( | 2 comments)
Am I a trinitarian or a unitarian? Not if I can help it…
I am writing this in hope of offering some encouragement to Liam, who is planning to go to university in September to study theology but is worried that he may be wasting his time.Liam is caught on the horns of a classic dilemma and at risk of falling torn and bruised between them. One horn is the… ( | 15 comments)
A different sort of missional theology from Paul’s address to the “men of Athens” in Acts 17
Paul is in Athens, waiting for Silas and Timothy to join him. His spirit is troubled by the profusion of idols in the city, and he gets into lively disputes about the phenomenon with Jews and God-fearing gentiles in the synagogue on the Sabbath and for the rest of the week with philosophers and… ()
Why is there no eschatological pilgrimage of the gentiles in Paul?
The idea of the “eschatological pilgrimage of the Gentiles” to a rebuilt temple and restored Zion is well attested in Isaiah especially but is found in other Old Testament and Hellenistic-Jewish writings. Here are three examples, but we could add Isaiah 56:6-7; 66:18-20; Zech. 14:16; Mic. 4:1-… ( | 2 comments)
Call yourself a Jew?
When Paul says, “if you call yourself a Jew” (Rom. 2:17), the traditional understanding has been that this is addressed to a Jew whom he is about to charge with hypocrisy: “You call yourself a Jew but you do this, that, and the other! Shame on you!” It is sometimes argued, however, in… ()