Josephus does not tell us that Christianity is true, and Christians do not need Josephus to tell them that Christ is risen. But Christianity makes claims about things that happened in public history under identifiable rulers, priests, and governors. For that reason, testimony from outside the church matters.
Today, the longing for cultural Christianity on both the left and the right hearkens back to an older version of Christendom that was a mixed blessing for the church in the western world. The cultural mediation of Christian views on created order has certainly benefitted the civilization we’ve inherited. But the gospel itself isn’t something that can be reduced to cultural mediation either. Instead, the gospel as a message stands apart from all human accomplishments and achievements, no matter how beneficial they might be.
The student of Scripture should always have a map open next to their Bible as they read. If possible, they should also travel to Israel, not to make a pilgrimage, but to see the context of the land in which these stories took place. These are not fairy tales made up about fictional fantasy lands; these are stories about real people in real places interacting with a real God.

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We now are the magi: we worship Christ because of who he is, but also because of what he has done for us and what he continues to do in his gift-giving to us.
Thanksgiving is never out of place for the Christian.
Below is the Thinking Fellows Essential Reading List with contributions from each of the Thinking Fellows hosts.
Symbols throw together a physical artifact we can see, hear, touch, taste, and/or smell, with a truth beyond the tangible.
To embrace our creatureliness is to affirm the truth that we were created to worship.
God does not give us an undebatable answer to suffering. Instead, God suffers, too.
This is an excerpt from Chapter 7 of Your God is Too Glorious: Finding God in the Most Unexpected Places by Chad Bird (1517 Publishing, 2023).
You are the baptized, for in Christ we are all wet. The demographic dividers are washed away.
Do our petitions move God?
Sing of Jesus’ Easter victory for you, and watch Satan flee with his worries and cares!
Sunday morning is about receiving, not giving.
The only way to change the current state of worship songwriting and production is to create something different.