/PRNewswire/ Illinois Lt. Governor Julianna Stratton will address graduates of North Park University s second cohort of School of Restorative Arts (SRA).
/PRNewswire/ North Park University School of Restorative Arts held a graduation ceremony at Stateville Correctional Center (Stateville) for 28 resident.
Too many people profess to be prophets. To borrow from the soul singer James Brown, they are talking loud but saying nothing. In some cases, their “nothing” proves dangerous. Lives shatter because spiritual leaders demand vulnerable people submit to abusive spouses and authorities as if God required it. Christian leaders bolster oppressive structures rather than helping to dismantle them. So-called prophets seek to profit off desperate followers by exploiting their trust for financial gain. A sure way to identify a false prophet is by their claim that they alone speak for God.
I affirm that God still speaks prophetically. We witness the beauty and power of timely pronouncements that zero in on particular wrongs needing to be righted. At times, prophetic words come from unlikely sources, as well as from faithful pastors and Christian leaders. As Jesus made clear, you can tell a tree by its fruit, and likewise a true prophet: “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree ca
“Objective” biblical interpretation?
In my essay on hermeneutics and exegesis, I point to the development of approaches to Scripture that complement and sometimes contradict historical-critical methods that gained prominence through European scholars of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The historical-critical approach emphasizes the study of language, cultural setting, and literary form. Scholars trained with such an approach sometimes conclude that there is only one way to understand a passage and that their understanding is what the original author intended. Yet the pursuit of a pure, objective, unbiased understanding of biblical authors can itself be a reflection of the interpreter’s own presuppositions.