Pete Enns

Speaking in parables is indeed similar to an artist’s craft. They create impressions, whole new worlds of meaning intended to turn old worlds on their heads. Read More >

    Determining what the Bible says and does not say puts us squarely—and unavoidably—in a deeply theological and hermeneutical conversation. These factors q... Read More >

    Scholars do not lead the Church; the Spirit does, working in and through the collective experience of the members of the body, where each one contributes his or her ... Read More >

    In Christian theology, reason is not the neutral and objective guide of theological truth. Instead, reason is informed by and in dialogue with Scripture, tradition, ... Read More >

    One always sees Scripture through the lenses of our traditions, our ability to reason, and our experiences as human beings. One of the great strengths of Wesleyanism... Read More >

    The Wesleyan Quadrilateral is a spatial metaphor for describing how we gain true theological knowledge. Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience—each has i... Read More >

    I have always found this dimension of Wesleyanism to be bristling with commonsense in that it recognizes the unavoidable interplay between four factors: Scripture, T... Read More >

    I would like to suggest one specific area in which a Calvinist approach to Scripture could, in principle, be employed with great profit in moving forward in how Chri... Read More >

    We see Calvinist influence beyond Calvinist denominations wherever an intellectual attempt is made to defend inerrancy. Read More >

    What Machen may not have fully appreciated is how the Jewish background of Paul specifically and the New Testament in general can wind up being a theologically reori... Read More >

    The bottom line is that our growing knowledge of the historical background of the New Testament must affect how we read it. Read More >

    In fact, when we turn to these Dutch Calvinists, we see that they were actually critical of their own tradition for failure to develop an “organic” doctr... Read More >

    This may seem like a rather obvious statement from our vantage point, but in Green’s day, reading the Bible in its historical context was a cause of concern fo... Read More >

    There were three intellectual challenges to Christianity in the nineteenth century: European Higher Criticism, Biblical Archaeology, and Evolution. These issues were... Read More >

    Old Princeton was very keen to defend the essential historical value of the Old Testament, but that does not mean that its scholars were oblivious to the need to tre... Read More >

    There were three intellectual challenges to Christianity in the nineteenth century: European Higher Criticism, Biblical Archaeology, and Evolution. These issues were... Read More >

    John Calvin was not a Calvinist. Many of the marks of Calvinism today are theological developments intended by Calvin’s followers to maintain trajectories that... Read More >

    We know that the Israelites were not the first to make this deduction, but Babylonian and Egyptian stories were there long before. This, of course, raises the perenn... Read More >

    How do the Old and New Testaments relate to each other, especially when we try to respect each in their historical context ? Read More >

    If God wishes to speak to us, he must bridge this gulf by descending into our world and speaking our language. In other words, God accommodates himself to our abilit... Read More >

    If God wishes to speak to us, he must bridge this gulf by descending into our world and speaking our language. In other words, God accommodates himself to our abilit... Read More >

    Calvin sought to respect the context of the Old Testament while also realizing that Christ makes a difference in how one appropriates the Old Testament. This, I woul... Read More >

    Calvinism has been a dominant Protestant theological tradition since its teachings were first systematically articulated by John Calvin (1509-64). It is known for it... Read More >

    Evangelicals often have widely different opinions on how evolution and Christianity can be in conversation—indeed, whether that conversation can happen at all.... Read More >

The story of Cain is ambiguous in places, and some of those ambiguities could be theologically objectionable if left to themselves. Read More >

The story of Cain is ambiguous in places, and some of those ambiguities could be theologically objectionable if left to themselves. Read More >

Cain was a “logical” candidate of sorts because his act was the only truly wicked act recorded in the chapters preceding the flood story.  Read More >

The reason why we are even taking the time to look at how early interpreters handled Genesis is to encourage interpretive self-consciousness and humility on the part of readers today. Read More >

But no rationale is given for why God found Abel’s offering more acceptable. What is especially puzzling is that both types of offerings—animal and agricultural—are ... Read More >

Why did Cain kill Abel? What was it that “made” him do it? On one level, the story seems clear enough. Nevertheless, answers to these questions are surprisingly not obviou... Read More >

After expelled from the Garden, Adam and Eve have two children: Cain and Abel. The birth of these two figures raised some questions in the minds of early interpreters. Read More >

Understanding the serpent as the devil, however, leaves open a pretty basic question in Genesis: why did the devil want to trick Adam and Eve in the first place? Read More >

This led some ancient interpreters to say that Adam both tilled the land and also guarded it. But from what or from whom does Adam do this? Read More >

During periods of cultural tension, where Jews were trying to maintain their own cultural identity, a naked Adam running around Eden came to be somewhat of a problem. Read More >

The idea that God first made animals to provide a helper for Adam and then, when no such helper could be found, created a woman was hard for early interpreters to swallow. Read More >

Early interpreters speculated what might be special about this Garden—special enough to have been off limits after Adam and Eve’s transgression. Read More >

The Garden story is about something that started right and quickly went very wrong. The forbidden fruit was eaten with lasting effects for humanity. But who is to blame, Adam or Eve? Read More >

The earliest interpreters of the Bible—just like modern ones—where curious about the serpent mentioned in Genesis 3. Read More >

The problem is well known: Adam (and Eve) did eat of the fruit, but they did not die on that day. Read More >

On the sixth day when God created humanity, Genesis 1:26 says something that has attracted the attention of biblical interpreters from early on until today. Read More >

Angels play a visible role in the Old Testament, but ancient interpreters wondered why nothing is said in Genesis about when they were first created. Read More >

What does it mean for God to say, “Let there be light” on the first day of creation when there was no heavenly bodies until day four? Read More >

For some early interpreters, Wisdom was not just the first of God’s works, but actually involved somehow in the act of creation. Read More >

By watching ancient interpreters at work, we will see that evangelicals today may have something to learn from them. Read More >

    These examples show that these two historians have very different reasons for writing their histories. Read More >

    These two different accounts were not given to us by the Spirit of God in order for us to blur the distinctions and make the two into one. Read More >

    The problem, though, is that Chronicles and Samuel/Kings both claim to report history, yet they report that history differently—and significantly so. Read More >

    As the logic goes, once you start down the road of not taking the Bible literally, there is no telling where that road will end. Read More >

    So, what does it mean for Christians to be image bearers of God? Read More >

  This psalm is a great summary of what "image of God" means. There is nothing in all of creation that has a higher status than humanity. Read More >

  This psalm is a great summary of what "image of God" means. There is nothing in all of creation that has a higher status than humanity.   Read More >

  The phrase “image of God” is not about what makes us human. It is about humanity’s unique role in being God’s kingly representatives in creation. Read More >

    Central to all of this is the resurrection of Jesus. Rising from the dead is the true beginning of this new mode of existence in which believers—right here and... Read More >

The theological power of these episodes is more fully appreciated when we keep before us the Old Testament “taming the water” theme they echo.   Read More >

    But like a church bell on a clear winter night, it is in the crisp darkness of doubt that God’s voice carries farther and more clearly.  Read More >

To interpret the Genesis flood as a complete global catastrophe is a modern imposition onto an ancient story. Ancients simply did not think of the earth in that way. Read More >

Perhaps what is most distinct about the Genesis story is the reason given for the flood. Read More >

The biblical flood story (Genesis 6-9) has taken a beating since geologists realized that a literal submersion of the entire earth in water is contradicted by clear scientific evidenc... Read More >

Atrahasis is important to biblical scholars because of its similarity to Genesis 2-9. Both stories share a similar storyline: creation, population growth and rebellion, flood.&nb... Read More >

Found among the ruins was a Babylonian creation story referred to today as Enuma Elish. How people viewed Genesis would never be the same again.  Read More >

One thing that these two stories have in common, though, is their high view of humanity. This distinguishes the biblical creation stories from other stories of the ancient world. &nb... Read More >

    An incarnational model is neither a recent trend in Christian theology, nor is it considered risky. Read More >

Some think that since Genesis 1 is poetry, it can be relieved of the burden of historicity—while Genesis 2, being narrative, is intended as a literal description of historical e... Read More >

For readers today, there are four very good reasons to focus on the differences between the creation stories in Genesis. Read More >

    Christians feel unsettled because evolution challenges something meaningful and non-negotiable—their scriptural understanding of God, of ultimate reality, of h... Read More >

Here are three final issues that arise when trying to understand Paul’s use of the Adam story.   Read More >

The bottom line is that understanding Paul’s Adam is a serious scholarly conversation where numerous complex issues have a rightful and necessary place at the table. Read More >

Does Paul’s use of the Adam story actually depend on him not reading it literally?   Read More >

“Why go through all this trouble? Why not just take it literally? The Bible says Adam was the first man. That’s the end of it.” Read More >

    It helps us look at the Adam story from an angle that might be new to some readers here: Adam is the beginning of Israel, not humanity. Read More >

  Even though the cosmic battle is over, we have not left the creation theme. Think of the exodus as God “creating” a people for himself out of a cosmic battle. ... Read More >

  The noted atheist and evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne has referred to BioLogos as a flea that needs to be scratched. Read More >

Creation, flood, and exodus are almost versions of the same story: the victory of Yahweh and the salvation of his people. Read More >

It is obviously important to spend a lot of time discussing the scientific data. But it is also important to deal with the biblical data. Why? Read More >

The more we grasp Israel's understanding of creation, the less likely we will be to expect from the Old Testament things it was never intended to deliver. Read More >

Genesis 1 and 2 tell the story of creation, and it says things that are at odds with what modern people know to be true of the world and universe around us.  Read More >

  BioLogos Senior Fellow Pete Enns looks at how a close reading of the book of Revelation can shed light out how we should interpret the Genesis creation account.   Read More >

Other ancient texts help us understand what kind of a text Genesis is.   Read More >

    ...Pete Enns discusses the merits of an incarnational model of scripture--which holds the human aspects of Scripture to be essential to the meaning of the text. Read More >

    Pete Enns looks at two challenges from the 19th century that have led to a rethinking on how to interpret the Bible. Read More >