Jesus and Gender
Growing up in a Christian church, I often heard how counter-cultural Jesus was when it came to women. Jesus is so often cast as a first century proto-feminist. Now, that I have learnt more about the history and the culture of first century Palestine, I know this to be untrue. Yet this fake news persists. […]
The Samaritans
As a teacher you learn loads from your students. A few years ago, one of my students, decided that they wanted to look at nationalism and the New Testament. After some discussion, she decided that examining the Jew–Samaritan relationship would be useful for her project. Little did we know what new things her research would […]
Disability
I write a monthly article for Spectrum Magazine, an Adventist journal and website featuring Adventist and Christian viewpoints and news. This month I wrote some thoughts on the way the field of disability studies has informed biblical studies. I am by no means an expert on the topic (that honour goes to my friend Isaac […]
Deconstructing Leviticus
I am an anti-homophobic Bible reader, and I strongly feel everyone should be. That’s why I’m working together with LGBT charity Seventh-day Adventist Kinship to help share anti-homophobic readings of the Bible. In the last weeks I have started hosting a series of 5 classes on the so-called clobber texts. These seven Bible passages are […]
Deconstructing the Clobber Texts
This spring I am working together with LGBT charity Seventh-day Adventist Kinship. I will hosting a series of 5 classes on the so-called clobber texts. These seven Bible passages are weaponised by Christians worldwide against LGBT individuals. Naturally, I do not agree with the way these texts are interpreted. The classes are open to anyone […]
Positionality
I write a monthly article for Spectrum Magazine, an Adventist journal and website featuring Adventist and Christian viewpoints and news. This month I wrote on the concept of Positionality, which is basically the idea that everyone is positioned towards what they read and view: The idea behind it is simple: I am not neutral, and […]
Is the Christmas Donkey Judeophobic?
In 2016, just a few months after Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out, superfan Pablo Hidalgo joked on Twitter that the evil General Hux has a cat named Millicent. He wrote ‘That dust that Kylo puts his helmet into? Litter box for Hux’s cat, Millicent.’ The tweet is sadly no more, but nothing is […]
I Was a Refugee
I’m from a family of refugees. My father fled cold, post-war Holland for the promise of a better future in South Africa. My grandmother’s family is descended from the Huguenots, who fled to Holland centuries ago. On my mother’s side we are Afrikaners. In the seventeenth century we fled from Holland to Cape Town, and […]
Digging in the Galilee
There I was, sitting on a plane to Israel, not knowing what to expect.
Textual Criticism or What Works?
Recently, an article by on the Guardian popped up on my facebook newsfeed, entitled Cloud Atlas ‘astonishingly different’ in US and UK editions. Just beneath that you could read ‘Academic discovers dramatically altered stretches of narrative while researching a paper on David Mitchell’s bestselling novel’. This immediately drew my attention as it is something close […]
Facing Doubt: Some Meta Musings
Spectrum Magazine asked me to review Reinder Bruinsma’s latest book Facing Doubt: A Book for Adventist Believers On the Margins. As I was reading and thinking about Bruinsma’s book, I decided that some of my musings would be worth a blog post.
Of monsters and men
Monsters are hot. It seems that networks are producing more and more monster shows: Penny Dreadful, The Walking Dead, and The Vampire Diaries, just to name a few. Monsters have escaped the fetters of the horror genre and broken free into blockbusters. Even classical works are being rewritten by mixing monsters with century’s old texts, […]
Utopia is Awesome
[This blog post is part of series on metamodernism and awesomeness. If you don’t know what metamodernism is, read this first, otherwise you may be left in the dark. I’m developing some thoughts here, and reactions are more than welcome.] Pete is an adventist. Pete believes in heaven. Pete believes Jesus lives there now, and will come soon to […]
Awesome prophecy
[This blog post is part of series on metamodernism and awesomeness. If you don’t know what metamodernism is, read this first otherwise you may be left in the dark. I’m developing some thoughts here, and reactions are more than welcome.] Pete is an Adventist. Pete believes in prophecy. Pete believes in the prophetic task of […]
In His Image: Discrimination and Equality
Almost 25 years ago Nelson Mandela was released from prison. He has been an inspiration for many people, and I am sure he will remain one for generations. In 1993 his contribution to society was honoured, when he won the Nobel prize for peace, together with F. W. de Klerk. Mandela’s mission was founded in love […]
Taking care of the earth
The meaning of life, for a Christian, is taking care of the earth. God’s primary wish for humankind is being a faithful steward to the earth and everything on it. Sadly, when we talk about stewardship we often talk about money and tithes. But what’s up with the world? When I was at Newbold College I was […]
A Book on Women’s Ordination
The ordination of female pastors has been a hot topic in the Adventist church in the last years. The excitement is growing now that the General Conference is getting closer. Sadly, I am not a delegate the the General Conference so I will have no vote in the matter. For the record, I wholeheartedly support […]
Gastblog: Bijbel in Gewone Taal
Met enig regelmaat schrijf ik een gastblog voor het Nederlands Bijbelgenootschap. In de veertigdagentijd vroegen zij of ik iets wilde schrijven over het evangelie van Johannes. Het is altijd een uitdaging om iets te vermakelijks schrijven voor zo’n breed lezerspubliek, maar de volgende zinnen uit Johannes 16 gaven mij goede inspiratie: ‘Nu spreek ik nog […]
The Post-Postmodern Church
I recently returned from The One Project gathering in San Diego, where I gave a talk about what the future holds for Christians in Europe and the US alike. A longer version of that talk (adjusted for print) just went up on The One Project’s official website. Catch the first few paragraphs here, or download the […]
Repeating the One Project
For the second time in my life I am sitting in hall with hundreds of people in the US, at the One Project. More than a thousand Adventists from all over the world are here to spend two days contemplating how Jesus is, and how they can recommit their lives to him. Wonderful talks, followed […]
God with Us
I wrote this blog for the One project’s daily challenge, they published it on December 30th, 2014. A couple of months ago my wife moved to another country. Don’t worry, she didn’t leave me — at least not permanently. She received a job offer we could not refuse, and for the last months we’ve been […]
Berichten: wat doe jíj ermee?
Ik krijg elke dag meer dan tweehonderd e-mails. Het is een wonder dat ik aan werk toekom! Naast die mails worden we allemaal overweldigd met App’jes, sms’jes en Facebookberichten. Om maar niet te praten over de berichten in de krant en op tv. En dan natuurlijk al die Tweets en YouTube-video’s … Daar bovenop de zegen […]
Ik kan niet naar mijn vader terug zonder mijn jongste broer
Onderstaande is een bewerking van de overdenking die Tom de Bruin hield op de jeugdleidersdag van 2 november. Er is een nieuwe bijbelvertaling in Nederland. Als je niet onder een rots hebt geleefd de afgelopen weken, dan heb je dat wel gemerkt. Er zijn meer dan 60 duizend Bijbels in gewone taal verkocht in de […]
Plucky Sabbath
I wrote an article on Mark 2 for Spectrum Magazine, entitled The Plucky Sabbath. Head over there and read it!
Moeten we daarvoor naar het ziekenhuis?
Daar sta je dan. Als net begonnen predikant, gewapend met de Schrift, barstend van de academische nuance, vóór het huis van een gezin. Binnen wacht een tweetal jongeren op de bijbelstudie van de predikant. Thuis heb je al hevig nagedacht waar je het over gaat hebben en — nog veel belangrijker — welke bijbel je […]