Canon Fodder

Are All Sins Equally Heinous? A Response to Barnabas Piper

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Michael Kruger

In a recent article, Barnabas Piper criticizes Christians for the manner in which they confront the sin of homosexuality. The problem with these confrontations, argues Piper, is that they are not equally distributed over other sins. What about the sin of fornication? Or divorce? Why do these not get equal attention?

This is certainly one of the most common objections to Christians who confront homosexuality. But, I think there are a number of problems with it. Let me mention just a few:

1. This objection can be a distraction from the real issue. When someone is confronted with sin, one of the most common defenses is to “accuse …

The Arrogance of the Urban: Part 2

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Michael Kruger

A while ago, I posted a blog article entitled “The Arrogance of the Urban” where I expressed concern over the attitude prevalent in many ministry circles today that “real” ministry happens in the inner city, while those in suburbia are out of touch and concerned only about their own safety and prosperity.

Part of the reason that urban ministry is regarded as more relevant is because of the belief that it is filled with minority poor that have been neglected by the mainstream church. While this is no doubt still true in some places, it is a vast oversimplification. In my original article I wrote:

Suburbia is not

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“Detheologizing Christianity”: My Review of Rob Bell’s New Book

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Michael Kruger

In 1941, Rudolph Bultmann published a very famous essay on “demythologizing” the New Testament. For Bultmann, the New Testament was filled with myths of miracles that no modern person could accept. Thus, in an effort to save Christianity, he attempted to strip it of all its supernatural elements. After all, we don’t want the concept of “God” to become out of date.

Rob Bell’s recent book, What We Talk About When We Talk About God (HarperOne, 2013), brings up many memories of Bultmann. While Bell is not trying to take away the supernatural elements of the faith, he is trying to purge it of elements that he thinks will make …

Ten Basic Facts about the NT Canon that Every Christian Should Memorize: #6: “At the End of the Second Century, the Muratorian Fragment lists 22 of our 27 NT books”

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Michael Kruger

Note: See the full blog series here.

This series is designed to introduce lay Christians to the basic facts of how the New Testament canon developed. One of the key data points in any discussion of canon is something called the Muratorian fragment (also known as the Muratorian canon). This fragment, named after its discoverer Ludovico Antonio Muratori, contains our earliest list of the books in the New Testament. While the fragment itself dates from the 7th or 8th century, the list it contains was originally written in Greek and dates back to the end of the second century (c.180).

Some have argued that the list …