PD211 Christian Life from a Kingdom Perspective
Overview
In this course Dr. Ben Witherington III unpacks the primary aspects of Christian life through the framework of the kingdom of God. The course covers the topics of work, money, rest, and play, as well as the practices of worship and spiritual formation. Dr. Witherington explores these topics through the eyes of the kingdom, lending a perspective that incorporates both spirit and truth. In his words, those who take this course will find it “not only soul nourishing but challenging in the kinds of ways that it forces them to think about the ordinary, mundane Christian life in a profound, theological, kingdom kind of way.”
Top Highlights
“The first question that raises is, what happens to you when you get involved in worship? When you come into the worship service, have you put aside all distracting and wandering thoughts? Are you focusing on God? Are you wide open to whatever revelation God wants to give you?” (source)
“Music reaches people in the affective side of who they are, their emotional side of their being. So, it enables and reaches the noncognitive dimensions of who you are so that your whole self, your mental self, your cognitive self, and your affective self are getting caught up in love and wonder and praise. The real worship is when your whole self—body and soul, mind, heart, spirit—is caught up in love and wonder and praise. The function of music is to more reach, if you will, the right side of the brain than the left side of the brain.” (source)
“Worship places us back into position of understanding our place in the whole creation order; that is, we are the creatures, and God is the creator. We should not be worshiping ourselves or other creatures (animals), or the earth, for that matter, or the sky or the sea. No, genuine worship restores the creation order and makes clear that we are not God, and only God is God, and only God deserves, of all of the things that exist, to be worshiped. So, in other words, it makes clear the divine/human distinction.” (source)
“Well, for one thing, they tell us we’re supposed to be caught up in love and wonder and praise of God, and if that’s not happening when we go to worship, then we are not, properly speaking, worshiping.” (source)
- Title: PD211 Christian Life from a Kingdom Perspective
- Author: Ben Witherington III
- Series: Logos Mobile Education
- Publisher: Lexham Press
- Print Publication Date: 2017
- Logos Release Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Courseware
- Subjects: Education › Kingdom of God; Education › Theology, practical; Kingdom of God; Theology, practical
- Resource ID: LLS:PD211WITHERINGTON
- Resource Type: Courseware Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-05-04T00:32:42Z
Ben Witherington III (PhD, University of Durham) is Jean R. Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. A prominent evangelical scholar, he is also on the doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University in Scotland. Witherington has written over forty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. His other works include The Indelible Image, Women and the Genesis of Christianity, The Gospel Code, A Week in the Life of Corinth and commentaries on the entire New Testament. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications and is a frequent contributor to Patheos and Beliefnet. Witherington is an elected member of the prestigious Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, a society dedicated to New Testament studies. He is a John Wesley Fellow for Life, a research fellow at Cambridge University and a member of numerous professional organizations, including the Society of Biblical Literature, Society for the Study of the New Testament and the Institute for Biblical Research. He previously taught at institutions like Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. An ordained pastor in the United Methodist Church and a popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings around the world. He has led numerous study tours through the lands of the Bible and is known for bringing the text to life through incisive historical and cultural analysis. Along with many interviews on radio and television networks across the country, Witherington has been seen in programs such as 60 Minutes, 20/20, Dateline and the Peter Jennings ABC special Jesus and Paul—The Word and the Witness