Author: Skip Moen, Ph.D.

  • Some Quotables

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    “The first job of a teacher is to tell the student, ‘Focus on this; this is important.  Do not focus on this—this is only the background.’” Tzivi Freeman “A simple faith that asks no questions and admits no anxieties is not the most religious faith.  A relationship that can articulate anxiety about the beloved’s distance…

  • Designated Representative

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  Genesis 1:27  NASB Image – Emphasis!  Typically Hebraic, a repeated word acts as an exclamation in a language without punctuation.  So the verse repeats ṣelem (image) in order to emphasize the special quality of this…

  • Why Keep Going?

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:13-14  NASB    Upward call – Don’t you think Paul’s justification for all this work is a bit strange?  “Upward call”?  Now what…

  • Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:13-14  NASB    Lies behind/ lies ahead – Making it Greek.  Yes, that’s what Paul does when he writes to the…

  • 586 BCE (3)

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  Lamentations 3:22-23  ESV   Faithfulness – Last on the list; first in action.  ʾĕmûnâ.  If raḥûm is the feeling that God has for His people, that same feeling a pregnant woman has for her unborn child, then ʾĕmûnâ is the action that results from that bond.  …

  • 586 BCE (2)

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  Lamentations 3:22-23  ESV   Mercies – As we discovered, God’s ḥesed is without an end.  And because it never comes to an end, because God never gives up on His promise, other things follow.  One of those other things is rāḥam, the root of the…

  • Under the Tuscan Sun

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    Well, last week we went to Tuscany.  Yes, before the tourist season.  It was cold, but beautiful.  A look at things before the crowds show up.  We met Luca, the owner and chef of a wonderful little restaurant in Pienza (space for 22 guests).  Attached is a picture with Rosanne.  And the cherry blossoms were…

  • 586 BCE (1)

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  Lamentations 3:22-23  ESV   Never ceases – Lamentations!  Five poems mourning the fall of Jerusalem and the captivity of the Jews.  Exile, abuse, starvation, humiliation, slaughter—all the usual after defeat in war.  But this time, with God’s endorsement.  How?  How can it be…