Here are a few blogs that I like to read (some I read more than others, some I like more than others ;-) )

Baraita
Real Live Preacher
RZIM (links to a page with two awesome podcasts)
dydimustk (shameless plug for my brother)

Has anyone read anythiing by either N.T. Wright and/or Robert Capon?

I have never read any of their stuff, but both theologians have been recommended to me by various people...

If you know anything about them, please share your reflections or recommended titles...
(I noted the Challenge of Jesus rec, thx! Please share more...)

Dwight: I agree with you... I think Jesus could have had both his incarnation and his death and resurrection in mind when he began his ministry and preaching the gospel... mainly because I think Jesus knew he was the fulfillment of OT prophecy. This doesn't prove it, but I think it's worth checking out what Paul says in Acts 13.

Acts 13:32-39:

“And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,
‘You are my Son,
today I have begotten you.’
And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,
‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’
Therefore he says also in another psalm,
‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’
For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, but he whom God raised up did not see corruption. Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.”

(ESV)

There are a lot of other really good passages in Acts to check out too, like when Peter or Paul are preaching.

So... if the Kingdom of God, is composed of the Church Invisible, the Body of Christ, and the good news is the word of God is Jesus, Mark 1:15 could basically be "The time is here, I am near, repent and believe me."?

**edited**

I guess that I should take the time to do a real bio, too… This is Rhonda (Franklin) Ortiz, A’04, married and living in Annapolis, attending St. Mary’s Parish (where I was received into the Catholic Church – capital C – two Easters ago), member of Regnum Christi (www.regnumchristi.org), still hoping for babies, working at Caffé Pronto Coffee Roastery (http://www.caffepronto.com/). My husband Jared will be at CUA in DC this fall as an Historical Theology PhD student.

Most recently, I saw a lot of Johnnies at croquet (!) and spoke with Kristi on the phone. I look forward to seeing y’all at graduation, in particular LAM’s little boy, who I’m sure is cute as a button.

I did a simple word study on the word "euangellion" in the Greek, just to see in what contexts the word was used. The closest I got to a definition was in reading Ephesians 1:13:

"In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit..."

I would submit to you that the gospel is the word of truth... it is not merely words... it is the Word... it is Christ, who is the Truth. (John 14:6)

Also, check out 2 Timothy. One of the main themes - to me, it seems - is treasuring the gospel. Take a look at 2 Tim 1:10 and 2 Tim 2:8... Christ "abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" and it was "the risen Jesus Christ, offspring of David" that was preached in the gospel. I would also submit that unless you preach or proclaim the resurrected Christ, and why this is significant, you are not preaching the gospel.

So basically, if you’re talking about how following Jesus is going to give you prosperity, a new car, success in the business place, happiness, wealth, purpose, energy, yada yada yada you are seriously missing the mark… maybe we need to think more about what the Good News meant for Jesus and his followers – death anyone? Suffering? How about being homeless? Outcast? Despised? Yea… it’s not too “pretty” and won’t give you the warm fuzzies.

Thoughts?

Here is a long list of other qualities of the Gospel:



(Feel free to discuss any of these. It may be interesting to discuss if all these references refer to the same euangellion.)

• it was first proclaimed by Jesus (Mark 1:14)


• when Jesus proclaimed it, he brought healing as well (Matt 4:23, 9:35)


• it is to be believed (Mark 1:15)


• it is for all nations, peoples, and all of creation (Matt 24:14; Mark 13:10, 16:15)


• it is a testimony of God's grace (Acts 20:24)


• it is powerful, and brings salvation (Rom 1:16)


• it is something to be obeyed (Rom 10:16)


• it is proclaimed (Mark 14:9, 16:15) and provides a living (different from life) for some (1 Cor 9:14)


• it is free, not something to make a monetary profit from (1 Cor 9:18)


• it is veiled to some, the unbelievers (2 Cor. 4:3)


• it is light, it the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4)


• it is preached (Acts, 1 Cor 15:1, 2 Cor 2:12, 2 Cor 8:18)


• it is confessed (2 Cor. 9:13)


• it is God's, not man's (Gal. 1:11)


• it brings peace (Eph. 6:15)


• it is a mystery (Rom 16:25, Eph. 6:19)


• it is defended and confirmed (Phil 1:7)


• it is advanced (Phil. 1:12)


• it is the word of truth (Col 1:5)


• it is glorious (1 Tim 1:11)


• it is eternal (Rev 14:6)

... but since I was asking everyone else for a brief bio/intro, I thought I better do one myself too. So I'm Kristi, some call me Miss K, or just Meador. I am from Annapolis class of 2004. I currently live in Kentucky, home to Ale-8 and lots of horses and beautiful rolling hills. It's great, but I miss the water, the sailing and rowing that I enjoyed while at St. John's. I like photography and used to run the darkroom in Annapolis... ::shameless self-promotion:: check out my photos here. (Can't say they're all worthy of hanging on your wall, though. I am not sure the digital realm is wholly good for me... this is also a hot button topic with me :) )

Currently I am a member at a Presbyterian Church in America congregation, www.tcpca.org. I used to be afraid of walking into the doors of a church - any church - but that all changed about 10 years ago.

Since St. John's I've been working misc office jobs, biding my time until I figured out what my next big step would be... and it turns out the next big step is moving to Belarus. (Yea, you might want to pull a map out for that one...) I've been reading classic lit and theology/philosophy... revisited Augustine, Rousseau, Kierkegaard... but otherwise I've been reading new authors. Can't say I have a real favorite Program book, but maybe The Brothers Karamazov comes close... speaking of which, I have a dog named Alyosha. He's an Australian shepherd-border collie mix. Super cute and crazy. As for more contemporary theologians, I enjoy C.S. Lewis.
That's it for now. Further inquiries welcome. Also, keep the bios coming! ;) Or any random fun or conversational stuff...

It seems that everyone is reading this book. According to Facebook.com it is the #1 book read by college students (Facebook is a web community site for high-school and college students.) It was in hardcover for freaking ever.
Link to related article that I DID read.

Why?

There are all sorts of books that take pot-shots at Christianity. The story itself isn't a new idea, all sorts of older books on the same "Jesus got married" topic are being sold in the gigantic marketing wave. Dan Brown wrote a similarly craptacular book that didn't sell until Da Vinci Code took off. I've read both. It isn't the author's ability that is selling the books.

Hey y'all! My little family and I are in Meridian, MS, now. Loving the south, but it still ain't Texas...Let me know if you have any questions about the Marine Corps, the Beechcraft T-34, cloth diapers...
-Laura

Dallas Willard (apologies to Nate) had a good point calling out the "Gospel of Sin Management." He basically said that much of the church is too worried about controlling sin through various programs and systems.

Here's a link to a related article I haven't read

The first thing Jesus says in the Gospel of Mark is: "The time has come, the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"

The Good News, or Gospel, seems to be a big thing ;-) What is it?

It is termed "the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24), "the gospel of the kingdom" (Matt. 4:23), "the gospel of Christ" (Rom. 1:16), "the gospel of peace (Eph. 6:15), "the glorious gospel," "the everlasting gospel," "the gospel of salvation" (Eph. 1:13). (according to Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary). I'd like to know your views...

It also seems that disagreement on what exactly the gospel is causes division in the church. You get things like "The Gospel of the Prayer of Jabez" (of 1 Chronicles 4:10 fame by Bruce Wilkenson) or "The Gospel of Your Best Life Now" (by Joel Osteen) or "The Gospel of a Purpose Driven Life" (by Dr. Rick Warren.)

All those books authors would probably say all the "right things" when pressured, but it seems to me there is this constant drive to market things as good news to Christians which aren't the Good News. Is this because the Good News isn't good enough? Jesus said that when we drank of his water, we would no longer thirst (John 4:14) so what is up with all this thirsting?

hi, blog. I'm Jackson Ferrell. I was a Johnnie for two years, then I transferred to Washington College for a variety of reasons that subtly change every time I tell them to people. Basically it was a practicality issue--not on the level of job utility or anything (after all, I am an English major), but at the simple level of the questioning involved. I knew things, and it wasn't useful for me to be continually encouraged to question things I already knew. St. John's is a good fit for a certain sort of person...I proved not to be that sort of person.
But enough about that. um...what else about me? I like to do creative things. I like to write stories and make up poems and draw stuff and generally just bring something into being that wasn't there before. Like God did at the creation of the universe, except that I have to work with what He's already created and I can't make anything ex nihilo. every time I think about God coming up with the universe with nothing to inspire Him except His own creative ideas, it blows my mind. I mean seriously! wow!
one of my favorite theologians is Francis Schaeffer. his ideas are very orthodox and sound, he's very sensible, but he approaches theology from a unique angle and emphasizes aspects of biblical theology that...well...don't always get all the air time they should. and yet still manages to stay grounded in the central point of the Bible: salvation in Christ. I'm also a big big fan of C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, and if I had to tell you exactly how pumped I am about the recent Narnia movie and the upcoming production of "Prince Caspian" that's slated for a December 2007 release...well, I would use extremely enthusiastic words to tell you how pumped I am. words like "pumped."
well, it's getting late, so I should be going to bed. but yeah. most of you know me in some way or another already. I'm gonna be graduating this May! woohoo!

Looks like an interesting experiment, Kristi--thanks for the invitation.

My name is Nate Eagle, I'm an alumnus of A'03. I'm a pastor's kid; my father is a pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church. (Other Johnnie Covenanters: Hayden Brockett, Katherine Nehring. Any I'm missing?) I went to Cameroon (Africa) with the Peace Corps after I graduated, then left after a year, utterly disenchanted with the role of the first world in Africa. (Thinking of joining the Peace Corps? Don't.) I'm now working quite happily as a web designer in Alexandria, VA, and I'm rather proud to be a mildly sophisticated cog in the greater machine of wealth generation that we call America.

My favorite program authors were Pascal, Kant, and Baudelaire. My least favorite contemporary Christian writer is Dallas Willard. (But so many to choose from!) My favorite is Richard John Neuhaus.

Hey, I'm Dwight... I'm living in Durham NC in a johnniecolony... I have a blog over at http://dwightk.com

I really liked Lincoln's speeches quite a bit...

Hello, everybody! My name is Matt Talamini, Annapolis class of 2005. I don't really know what to say. Hmmm... A brief bio, I suppose. Here:

I am a Conservative Protestant Christian who has spent the year since graduation as a proffesional computer nerd. I have an ongoing project to create a computer program that writes poetry (This is not easy to do, and I have not succeeded yet). My favorite philosophical book (Besides the B.I.B.L.E.) was Kant's Critique of Judgement, which I had a precept on. If I could take one thing out of my burning house, it would be my hard drive(s).

Is that the sort of thing you wanted, Kristi?

Field of Dreams anyone? You could say I have been both inspired and nostalgic; I've been aware of a lack and seeking a way to fill it.

Nostalgic: Missing good conversations and fellowship with like-minded individuals. This I found in abundance in various circles while I was at St. John's in Annapolis. The most significant instances were outside the classroom, and mostly amongst other Christ followers.

Inspired: I began to think, how can I create outlets for good conversation and good fellowship? Having left the college community in 2004, and moving back to Kentucky, I sought friends who would read books with me and sit down to discuss them. I sought out fellowship with other Christians in a local church... These have all been fruitful. But I still missed the community among believers back at SJC. I contemplated how I could stay connected with Johnnies even though I was living far away from them. So I have been maintaining my own blog over at beingtransformed.blogspot.com, and as one friend commented, it has sort of become a meeting place for Johnnies as people post comments over there. I also have been a reader of boarsheadtavern.com, a site where over 30 Christians from diverse backgrounds keep a lively conversation going; I have been encouraged by its long- standing success and fruitfulness.

Keeping these things in mind, I decided to try a group blog to incorporate my fellow Johnnies and brothers and sisters in Christ into a big on-going conversation via the web. I still plan on maintaining my own personal blog, but the purpose here at sjcfellowship.blogspot.com is to keep our connection as friends and family going.

So what will we do here? We will talk theology, or wax philosophical. We can share announcements and prayer requests. And we'll probably talk about books, especially the Good Book.

So who is this for? Believers and Johnnies.

Believers: You follow Jesus Christ. We could say, basic agreement to the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, which is enough common ground for me.

Johnnies: You have attended St. John's College in either Annapolis or Santa Fe at some point, even if you didn't stay, or you are an honorary Johnnie. Honorary Johnnies include spouses of Johnnies, and those that get this honor by sharing the same Spirit and spirit of learning (perhaps the occasional midshipman or close relative, like a sibling).

If this interests you, well, join the conversation. Help make this place what you want it to be, as my only goal is to maintain close communication with those that gather here. For now, I will be the main administrator incase you have any questions, technical issues, suggestions, or monetary tips... ;) If you have a homepage or favorite website or online resource you'd like me to link on the sidebar, just shoot me an email. Posting pictures is also welcomed.

You may wonder, why Blogger? Well, of the Johnnies I know of who maintain their own blogs, Blogger seems to be the favored host. However, if this site is thriving a year or two from now, I may look into switching to somewhere else that would allow for greater freedom and flexibility. Also, in light of the fact that I will be moving to Belarus in a few short months (Lord-willing), and may not be stopping in here as frequently, I will be asking a few other individuals to oversee things and deal with the administrative stuff. If you are a bit of a computer techie and plan on being a contributor, let me know if this would also interest you...

So the St. John's College Fellowship blog has begun...

Welcome!