So what's this Blog all about?
In my soon to be released book, Parables of a Prodigal Son: The Theologically Grounded Testimony of an Ordinary Scoundrel, I strive to provide my testimony through the matrix of a proper understanding of the historiocal Christian faith, an understanding gleaned primarily from the scholarship of N.T. Wright.
This Weblog will attempt to carry forward the conversation that began in Parables of a Prodigal Son, limited not only to my own life stories but to the stories that are now being played out in the world around us. As in Parables, I will discuss these stories in an effort to make sense from within a historically biblical worldview, a worldview that takes into account the existence of a God that created the universe, who transcends and yet is at all times in loving interaction with it. I will strive to carry forward the conversation in a manner that takes into account the historical fact that a young peasant Jew named Yeshua, executed in first-century Palestine by the Roman authorities, is now the Lord of the world. I will strive to carry forward the conversation in a manner that takes into account that this peasant Jewish prophet was subsequently bodily raised from the dead, and that through this resurrection God inaugurated His age-old plan to fix the cosmos. I will strive to carry forward the conversation in a manner that takes into account that we who have heard and accepted this message are called to act as agents of this plan, are called to be people not only to whom this salvation applies but through whom it is brought to bare on the whole world. I will strive to take seriously Jesus' own subtle manner of accomplishing this task, a la Luke 24, which was to re-tell the stories of the world around Him from a new perspective, from His fahter's perspective, from within a metanarrative of hope and love, or rather, Hope and Love.
I invite you to join me on this journey and in this conversation. If you have a theologically-grounded topic of conversation that you'd like to share, please e-mail it to me at raffi@parablesofaprodigalson.com. I will be posting those that meet the criteria of this site, criteria that are ill-defined here but extremely well defined in the biblical narrative from Genesis to Revelation.
Grace and Peace,
Raffi Shahinian
He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
This Weblog will attempt to carry forward the conversation that began in Parables of a Prodigal Son, limited not only to my own life stories but to the stories that are now being played out in the world around us. As in Parables, I will discuss these stories in an effort to make sense from within a historically biblical worldview, a worldview that takes into account the existence of a God that created the universe, who transcends and yet is at all times in loving interaction with it. I will strive to carry forward the conversation in a manner that takes into account the historical fact that a young peasant Jew named Yeshua, executed in first-century Palestine by the Roman authorities, is now the Lord of the world. I will strive to carry forward the conversation in a manner that takes into account that this peasant Jewish prophet was subsequently bodily raised from the dead, and that through this resurrection God inaugurated His age-old plan to fix the cosmos. I will strive to carry forward the conversation in a manner that takes into account that we who have heard and accepted this message are called to act as agents of this plan, are called to be people not only to whom this salvation applies but through whom it is brought to bare on the whole world. I will strive to take seriously Jesus' own subtle manner of accomplishing this task, a la Luke 24, which was to re-tell the stories of the world around Him from a new perspective, from His fahter's perspective, from within a metanarrative of hope and love, or rather, Hope and Love.
I invite you to join me on this journey and in this conversation. If you have a theologically-grounded topic of conversation that you'd like to share, please e-mail it to me at raffi@parablesofaprodigalson.com. I will be posting those that meet the criteria of this site, criteria that are ill-defined here but extremely well defined in the biblical narrative from Genesis to Revelation.
Grace and Peace,
Raffi Shahinian
Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him. He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?" They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?" "What things?" he asked. "About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel."
He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
Amen.
The story of the "Prodigal Son" has certainly inspired countless people over the generations. The premise of your site sounds interesting, so I will read a bit and discover who you are. Blessings.