Biola Now

Was missionary  John Allen Chau mistaken to go to the Andaman Islands?

By Kenneth Nehrbass

Nov. 26, 2018

Missionary John Allen ChauBy Kenneth Nehrbass​American missionary John Allen Chau  was martyred recently when he traveled  alone to Sentinel Island to preach the gospel.  India's law makes it illegal for foreigners to land there, partly to protect the islanders from foreign disease, and partly to protect travelers from ...

Full Post

Trinity in Scripture (Lanier Library Lecture)

By Fred Sanders

Nov. 26, 2018

In October 2018 I got to make my first visit to the remarkable Lanier Theological Library in Houston, Texas. I was there to give a lecture on my favorite subject, the Trinity. Specifically, the lecture is an overview of how to read the Bible to

The post Trinity in Scripture ...

Full Post

On Knowing Humanity (review)

By Kenneth Nehrbass

Nov. 21, 2018

​What defines anthropology is not a canonical body of knowledge, rather  mutually held perspectives about human nature and methods for studying cultures. While anthropologists have recently experienced a turn toward epistemological uncertainty, calling into question seminal theories in their field, many remain committed to these perspectives, such as cultural relativism ...

Full Post

Living in the Family of Jesus (review)

By Kenneth Nehrbass

Nov. 15, 2018

​Numerous missiological texts have stressed the importance of “local theologies,” or have outlined models for contextualization; but far fewer works have supplied rich data on actual contextual theologies. Living in the family of Jesuscontains a collection of erudite essays on local Christianities, written by Melanesian scholars and Westerners who have ...

Full Post

What makes some people so good at crossing various cultures?

By Kenneth Nehrbass

Nov. 12, 2018

Mitchell, a Christian worker on a US college campus, drinks hot tea with a group of Kazakh students at lunch, then mentors a  Latino student, and goes off to his South Asian friends' small group meeting after dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Sara, an immigrant herself, feels comfortable making friends ...

Full Post

Reading Theology African (Introduction)

By Fred Sanders

Nov. 9, 2018

If you read a lot of early Christian theology, you’re probably reading a lot of texts from Africa. But chances are that you’re reading them without registering anything African about them. Think of patristic texts by authors of African provenance: Tertullian, Cyprian, Clement of Alexandria,

The post Reading ...

Full Post