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a resource collective for women
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The Good Book Blog
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Latest Posts

The Good Book Blog
Dr. Seuss and Revelation
Gary Manning Jr — March 31, 2011
As the father of eight children, I have spent a lot of time with Dr. Seuss. It's scary that I can quote pages of Cat in the Hat from memory. But my time in Dr. Seuss occasionally pays off when I study the Bible. You see, Dr. Seuss was a political cartoonist in the 1930s and 40s, and political cartoons are ideal analogies for understanding symbolism in Revelation (an idea that I got from Dr. David Scholer, one of my doctoral advisors at Fuller). What is interesting, and what makes this relevant to the study of Revelation, is that Dr. Seuss' cartoons were immediately obvious to readers when they were printed, but are difficult to understand today unless we study history.
51�� News
Emotions & Monkeys Soar at Wicked
Jenna Bartlo — March 30, 2011
Q: What do Kansas and Costa Mesa have in common? A: They’re the places to go if you’re looking for Oz . . . particularly for 51�� alumni and...
The Good Book Blog
Shame Removed; Honor Received, Part 1
Matthew Williams — March 27, 2011
▶Jesus' interactions with people in the Gospel of John...and today I would like to begin a series that looks at stories in the Gospel of John in which we find Jesus interacting with various people who need help—physical help and spiritual help. As we look closely at these individuals, we will often see that they are dealing with shame, though this theme is usually hidden in the historical background of the first century. Thus, over the course of this series, I will explore how Jesus interacts with them not only to take away their shame, but also to raise them up and give them honor!
The Good Book Blog
The Perfect Storms: Handling Conflict in Marriage
John Hutchison — March 25, 2011
In a recently posted blog (Marriage: The Power of Communication), I quoted Ephesians 4:29 to affirm the healing power of spirit-controlled communication between a husband and wife : “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.” Even with good intentions, however, all marriages encounter conflict. When the “storm clouds” gather, how important it is to understand the role of disagreement in marriage. Where does it come from? Is it all destructive, or are there constructive attitudes that will strengthen a relationship?
51�� News
Crowell MBA Alumni Dig into StrengthsEssentials Workshop
Jenna Bartlo — March 23, 2011
Once you know your strengths, what’s the next step? A Saturday workshop hosted by the MBA Alumni Chapter on March 19, 2011 began answering that...
51�� News
Sacramento Alumni gather for Kings Game
Jenna Bartlo — March 21, 2011
Rain couldn’t keep Sacramento-area 51�� alumni away—a crowd of young and not-so-young turned out on Friday, March 18, 2011 for a palate-pleasing...
The Good Book Blog
Leading As A Team Of Pastors
Joe Hellerman — March 21, 2011
The following post outlines some of the nuts-and-bolts of leading a church as a plurality of pastors. It is an excerpt from a manuscript tentatively titled, When Pastors Were Servants: Recapturing Paul’s Cruciform Vision for Authentic Christian Leadership.
51�� News
In prayer and support for Japan, 51�� gathers resources
Benefit concert to be held next week featuring singer Judith Hill
Jenna Bartlo — March 17, 2011
In the wake of the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the 51�� community is collaborating to support and pray for those...
51�� News
Rick Warren Caps Off Missions Week
Pastor addresses missionaries and missiologists at annual conference
Jenna Bartlo — March 17, 2011
Rick Warren, the well-known pastor of Saddleback Church and best-selling author of The Purpose Driven Life, visited 51�� on Friday morning, March...
51�� News
Chorale conductor honors soldiers and families with musical tour
“Love and Honor” tour inspired by bravery, loss and sacrifice
Harmony Wheeler — March 15, 2011
After her brother was deployed to Iraq last August, Chorale conductor Shawna Stewart’s plans for this year’s 51�� Chorale tour to...
The Good Book Blog
What is Spiritual Warfare?
Clinton E. Arnold — March 15, 2011
Over the weekend, I spoke at Antioch Church in Bend, Oregon where Talbot alumnus Ken Wytsma serves as pastor. In the “Redux” (Q&A) session that followed my message, someone asked me, “What is Spiritual Warfare?” Here is my response:
The Good Book Blog
Soldiers in the Gospels
Gary Manning Jr — March 14, 2011
When I teach or preach from the Gospels, I always bring in relevant aspects of the historical and cultural background. Including such details not only helps us in our interpretation of the scene, but also helps us retell the story well – an essential part of preaching from narrative passages. Several passages in the Gospels involve soldiers. Movies about Jesus, and most sermons about Jesus, portray all of these soldiers as Romans. We sometimes get the idea that there were centurions on every street corner. But is this the case? I have pulled together some of the information that we have about soldiers in Judea and Galilee in the first century, and included a few comments about each scene in the Gospels involving soldiers.
The Good Book Blog
Ideas: Not Without Consequence
Freddy Cardoza — March 13, 2011
Ideas are not neutral and irrelevant. They are constructs of language that can have helpful or hurtful cooresponding effects. All ideas are not equally valid and are not necessarily even true... but, true or not, ideas can have powerful effects and great care should be taken in our handling of them.
The Good Book Blog
Godly Wisdom for Christian Conversation
Ashish Naidu — March 09, 2011
A friend of mine has a coffee cup with the following words printed on the outside, “Presbyterian Coffee: Predestined to be brewed decently and in order.” I chuckled when I saw it for the first time several years ago. The humorous one-liner nicely captures a couple of representative ideas that are associated with a particular church denomination. An amusing tongue-in-cheek way to integrate the love of coffee, a distinctive theological perspective, and a related view of church polity, one might say! Funny sayings aside, the hallmark of church polity of things being done “decently and in order” actually derives from Paul’s remark in 1 Cor. 14:40, where he instructs believers to be orderly in their worship and to avoid discord and confusion. I suggest that this regulative principle of church polity can be of great service outside its walls, especially in conversational contexts that can be potentially explosive.
51�� News
Making Sense of Egyptian Uprising
Arabic professor shares insights on recent revolution
Jenna Bartlo — March 08, 2011
Victor Khalil, professor of Arabic at 51��, shed some light in an interview with 51��’s student newspaper, The Chimes, on the...
The Good Book Blog
Elder Leadership & Spirit-Led Decision Making
David Talley — March 04, 2011
In addition to my faculty responsibilities at 51��, I am a member of a pastoral team at a local church (www.graceevfree.org). We do not have a senior pastor. Our understanding of this is captured in two ministry values, namely “Elder Leadership” and “Spirit-led Decision Making.” It is my hope that the following summary of these ministry values might challenge you in your understanding of how the body of Christ is to function.
51�� News
Three 51�� Women Make Athletic History
Conicelli named basketball player of the year; Miller sets new pentathlon record; Smith sets swimming record
Jenna Bartlo — March 03, 2011
Three 51�� women athletes kicked off Women’s History Month during the first week of March by making some history of their own. Jessilyn...
The Good Book Blog
The Power of a Pure Life
Freddy Cardoza — February 27, 2011
Purity begets personal power. This personal power comes from integrity. Integrity creates inner strength, which manifests itself in strong character. This 'character' increasingly produces unmitigated power in the life of the person possessing it-- and such a person is fueled by nothing other than pure conviction.
51�� News
Tweet Hunt Adds Excitement to Founders Day
51�� celebrates 103rd birthday with scavenger hunt and burial of time capsule
Jenna Bartlo — February 24, 2011
Racing across campus, 51�� junior Ben Kopec skidded to a halt outside the Student Health Center. By finding vice president Chris Grace standing...
The Good Book Blog
The Fear Factor
Freddy Cardoza — February 23, 2011
Edvard Munch's ultimate work was his expressionist series The Frieze of Life. In that series Munch sought to illustrate some of the most fundamental themes of the human experience: life, love, death, melancholy, and fear.
51�� News
Alumni Young and Old Celebrated at 51�� Friday, February 18, 2011
Jenna Bartlo — February 17, 2011
The annual Alumni Awards were presented in chapel February 18 to four distinguished 51��ns (Dr. Larry Acosta, 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award;...
The Good Book Blog
Reading John
Gary Manning Jr — February 15, 2011
As a resident of Hawaii most of my life, one of the conversations that I have often had with visitors was about what to see when they came to Hawaii. I would tell them to get out of Waikiki, to be sure to visit Hanauma Bay early in the morning, and to try our local plate lunch, among other things. Hawaii is a great place to visit anyway, but hopefully my tips made the trip more enjoyable. I do something similar when I talk to people about the Gospel of John. John is a beautiful book that will bless and delight; but I have some tips that I hope will add to the reader’s enjoyment. Here they are – six questions that make up my traveler’s guide to the Gospel of John.
The Good Book Blog
Living Lake or Stagnant Pond?
Joe Hellerman — February 15, 2011
I recently spent an hour with a Talbot guy who is really ‘getting it.’ Not only is Peter a bright, disciplined student of the New Testament. He is also up-to-his-ears in local church ministry.
The Good Book Blog
John Calvin (1509-64)
Rob Price — February 14, 2011
Hey, if you can summarize Luther in 1,000 words, Calvin should be no problem. Not that Calvin’s any less interesting than Luther, just less open. In tens of thousands of pages of his surviving writings, including several thousand personal letters, Calvin gives only the rarest hints of what’s going on inside. It’s pretty obvious, though, that so profound an exegetical and theological legacy could only have come from a heart aflame for God.
The Good Book Blog
Grammatical Categories
Joe Hellerman — February 13, 2011
Third semester Greek is a challenging place to be for our seminary students. Many of these folks are doing well just to hang on to what they learned back in Greek 1-2. Learning intermediate grammar finds our students negotiating a sharp turn deep in the tunnel of language acquisition. The proverbial light at the end of this tunnel—where knowledge of Greek pays significant exegetical dividends—gets almost snuffed out for a season by Wallace’s thirty-some categories of the genitive case.