Koinonia

Singing New Testament Greek?

Over the past few years Dr. Ken Berding has taken a new approach to teaching the grammar of New Testament Greek, singing it.

That's right, singing. I have to admit some skepticism when I first heard about his Sing and Learn New Testament Greek a couple years ago, but when you think about it, it makes sense. How easy is it to remember a song (even when you don't want to) as opposed to a paradigm (even when you do want to)?

Curious what a classroom full of students rocking out to aorist passive endings would sound like? Check out these two videos straight from classes using Sing and Learn New Testament Greek.

 

 

The Greatest Story Never Told: part 5 by Ron Habermas

How Jesus’ Human Example Empowers Us to be Fully Human Today

Blog #5 (of 5): "How Do We Start Emulating Jesus’ Example of Maturity?"

Jean Piaget, a mid-twentieth century Swiss psychologist noted for his theories on cognitive development, concluded that children tend to progress through four sequential phases of mental maturity. Whenever he came to the United States, he was invariable asked what became known as The American Question (actually it was two related inquires): First, can we accelerate the pace of a child’s learning? Second, can we skip a learning phase? Piaget assured his listeners that neither could happen.

In the same way, comprehensive godly maturity takes time. We can never fast-forward quality development. Jesus’ entire life modeled this fact.

But where do we start? How do we begin the lifelong process of emulating Jesus’ humanity? This last blog opens with key questions based upon the first four days, by way of summary. Next, a model from Jesus’ maturing life is introduced, followed by a related curriculum example. Finally, a closing challenge is offered.

The Greatest Story Never Told: part 4 by Ron Habermas

How Jesus’ Human Example Empowers Us to be Fully Human Today

Blog #4 (of 5): "Where Did Jesus Grow and Mature?"

Yesterday’s blog—"When Did Jesus Grow and Mature?"—laid the foundation for Jesus’ development through three broad subjects. Today’s blog builds upon that structure, featuring the Bible’s detailed (albeit concise) look at Jesus’ maturation process. Attention is given to a trio of primary phases within our Lord’s maturity, as each is shaped by a unique base of influential authority.

Today’s topic, from my experience, is virtually absent from every resource that features the combined themes of Jesus’ full humanity and lifelong discipleship. Yet it’s almost impossible to imagine biblical maturity without the benefits of this topic.

The Greatest Story Never Told, pt. 3: by Ron Habermas

How Jesus’ Human Example Empowers Us to be Fully Human Today

Blog #3 (of 5): "When Did Jesus Grow and Mature?"

I have differentiated between the words grow and mature in this Blog series. Adult "growth" depicts more natural—what’s also been called "unfolding"—aspects of development, such as physical height and strength, normal progression of mental capacities, and so forth. "Maturity," however, portrays choices that move us toward responsible human completeness. Growth is relatively passive; maturity is more active. Both are Providentially-directed.

The main reason for this distinction is to help us identify one healthy category of what our Christian objective looks like. This distinction enables us to discern elderly adults from mature ones. As someone said, "Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional." Until such differentiations are made, the Church will continue its hit-or-miss record of Christlikeness, because our vocabulary (which describes our objective) is not precise enough.

The Greatest Story Never Told: part 2 by Ron Habermas

How Jesus' Human Example Empowers us to be Fully Human Today

#2 (of 5): "Who Was Jesus?"

I start my teaching on the four gospels by listing these fifteen diverse items:

• Understood God’s Word

• Knew what people thought

• Expressed sympathy

• Was always learning

• Got hungry

• Was self-sacrificing

• Sang hymns

• Became surprised

• Was led by the Holy Spirit

• Got angry

• Waited a long time for God to answer prayer

• Wanted to be left alone

• Served others

• Doubted God’s presence

• Needed support of others

"Which of these traits do we find in Jesus’ life?," I initially ask my listeners. "What traits do we not find?," is the logical follow up question, which I also ask.

The answer to this second blog’s overarching title question is that Jesus was always 100% God and 100% Man. Still, His favorite name for Himself was Son of Man, because He wanted to emphasize His complete humanity in God’s Image. We will do the same in this series.

The Greatest Story Never Told: part 1 by Ron Habermas

How Jesus' Human Example Empowers Us to be Fully Human Today

Blog #1 of 5: "Let’s Start at the Very Beginning—A Very Good Place to Start"

From time to time, I hear this trite—yet accurate—summary of global Christianity: "By contrast, the Church’s evangelistic efforts and results are mile-wide, but their members’ collective maturity is only inch-deep."

This reminds me of the new baseball coach who gathers his nine-year-olds at the local diamond for the season’s first pep talk: "Okay guys, this summer we’re going to win it all!" (cheers) "Nobody’s going to stop us!" (more cheers) "And we’ll win by getting back-to-the-basics!" The frenzied screams grow louder still, as each player scampers off to his assigned position.

Ten seconds later the yelling dies, and the team captain sheepishly walks over to the man who predicted success. A slow pace allows him to survey the perplexed looks on each of the other eight players.

Hermeneutics and Children's Curriculum by John Walton

Seminaries and grad programs that train pastors, and the academics who teach in those programs are very concerned about proper hermeneutics. We want pastors to have the very best training so that God’s word is handled properly and that preaching proceeds from the authoritative teaching of the text rather than from human cleverness or tangential ideas. This is as it should be since we seek to teach with the authority of God’s Word. My question is, why do we not show the same interest in assuring that children are taught with the same care?

It has been my practice over the years to work with the Children’s education program in my church to evaluate curriculum and train teachers for the pre-school through elementary grades. What I find in curricula is consistently shocking from a hermeneutical standpoint. I should hasten to say that curricula are often excellent from an educational standpoint—for that is the expertise of those producing curriculum. In the area of hermeneutics, however, the violations of sound method are frequent and obvious. I have identified five basic fallacies that appear repeatedly: