Fathom Magazine Cain, Abel, and the World Turned Upside Down My youngest son is named Abel, so you can imagine the horror I experienced when I looked out the window one day to see his older brother, just shy of three years… Russ Meek March 29, 2022
Fathom Magazine Cain, Abel, and the World Turned Upside Down My youngest son is named Abel, so you can imagine the horror I experienced when I looked out the window one day to see his older brother, just shy of three years… Russ Meek March 29, 2022
Fathom Magazine Creation, Ancient Near Eastern Context, and the Meaning of Genesis 1 I wasn’t a Christian in eighth grade, but I didn’t let that stop me from agonizing over the eternal destiny of Mr. Upshaw, my science teacher. If you grew up in evangelical… Russ Meek January 4, 2022
Christ in the Old Testament: The Meaning of Genesis 3:15 for Reading and Interpreting the Old Testament Christologically from Genesis to the Prophets The Old Testament speaks most of all of God’s outrageous plan to send a head crusher who would defeat the serpent who tempted our ancestors. Russ Meek January 22, 2021
“In the Image of God He Made Them”: How Genesis 1:27 Challenges Sexual Abuse and Misogyny in the Church Denying the image of God in all humans reduces people to things and creates a straight line to abuse, because at the root of abuse is the de-personing of a person. Russ Meek November 17, 2020
Timeline of Ezra and Nehemiah Lots of strange names, foreign rulers, and two books (originally one!) that are not always in chronological order? This timeline may help sort through the Persian rulers, Jewish leaders, and events in… Russ Meek November 13, 2020
Credo Magazine Human Suffering and God’s Sovereignty in the Book of Job The book of Job teaches that we must make room for God’s sovereignty and divine mystery in our quest to understand human suffering. Russ Meek November 11, 2020
Angry Enough to Die, or What Jonah Taught Me about Forgiveness Jonah was “angry enough to die.” So was I when my family’s abuser sought reconciliation and forgiveness. This is a small part of my story of forgiveness and the role Jonah played in it. Russ Meek October 23, 2020
The Suzerain Vassal Treaty (Covenant) in the Old Testament The covenant God established with Israel at Mount Sinai bears the marks of a suzerain vassal treaty (covenant), a somewhat common treaty form in the ancient Near East. Russ Meek October 14, 2020
Fictive Kinship: What It Is and How It Impacts our Understanding of the Gospel God is my Father, and thus he is responsible to take care of me (just like he does the lilies of the field and birds of the air, as Jesus reminds us). And it means I have a responsibility to love, cherish, and obey God. Russ Meek September 30, 2020
Love Is the Fulfillment of the Law (What’s that mean, anyway?) Love, then, is not about an emotional disposition; it is about acting in a certain way toward others—a way that is consistent with the commandments laid out in the Law. Russ Meek September 17, 2020
Religious Ritualism and Idolatry in Malachi The prophets warned Judah repeatedly that their idolatry—looking to things other than God for their safety, satisfaction, and fulfillment—would end badly. And because the vertical relationship between God and the people was broken by idolatry, the horizontal relationship between people also suffered greatly. Russ Meek September 11, 2020
4 Reasons to Preach Christ from the Old Testament (Christ in the Old Testament) The Christocentric sermon will lead us to obey God because God has already established a relationship with him, not in order to establish that relationship through law keeping. Russ Meek September 11, 2020
Who Am I in Christ? The Bible Tells Me How God Sees Me In Lecrae’s song “Dirty Water” he points out the damage done by telling, being told, and believing lies about who we are: “Worthless, worthless, 400 years we done heard that My family… Russ Meek May 6, 2020
For the Church Pure Religion in James 1:27: Thoughts on Foster Care and Christian Spiritual Formation I’ve written before about my struggles with foster care. It’s revealed some dark truths about my own heart that I would have preferred not be there. It’s been over a year now that Andrew*… Russ Meek April 1, 2020
ERLC God is Father to the Fatherless, So Christians Must Love the Fatherless among Us The United States Census Bureau reports that more than one out of every four children in the United States lives without a father—biological, adoptive, or step—in their home. Children without fathers are at a substantially higher… Russ Meek March 22, 2020
The Day My Foster Son Leaned into Me Andrew[1] can’t articulate why he doesn’t trust me, but his body knows. Where my other two sons, both around his age, will lean against me while we watch TV (I know, parent… Russ Meek March 5, 2020
I Was Wrong. I’m No White Knight I’m a white, middle class man. I attend a church of mostly white, middle class people. My church is located in the middle of a very poor, almost exclusively black neighborhood. The… Russ Meek February 28, 2020
The Gathering Place West Audio: Ecclesiastes: The Genesis Framework and Meaning of Hebel Russ Meek February 27, 2020
Sojourners The Burden of Safety Doesn’t Lie with the Abused On Friday, Megan Twohey, one of the journalists who broke the story about Harvey Weinstein’s alleged abuse, released an interview she conducted with Donna Rotunno, Weinstein’s criminal defense attorney. As the interview came to… Russ Meek February 13, 2020
Sojourners Inside the Fight to Keep an Abuse Apologist off the Church Stage “If you stand up to sexual abuse, you must remain standing,” Susan Codone recently told me. She’d said the same thing on Twitter in response to news that Paige Patterson, former president of Southwestern… Russ Meek February 7, 2020
Sojourners Why Social Media Is a Last Resort for Survivors of Clergy Abuse The church shouldn’t need a hashtag to shame it into taking sexual violence seriously. Abuse survivors shouldn’t have to look to Twitter and Facebook and blogs to find a place to belong, to be believed, and to give voice to their trauma. Russ Meek January 18, 2020
Religion News Service The SBC’s Same-Sex Abuse Problem If our zeal for a biblical view of sexuality outshines our desire to protect the people in our churches, something has gone very, very wrong. Russ Meek December 18, 2019
Red Letter Christians How the Misuse of Matthew 18 Bullies Abuse Survivors Into Silence Matthew 18:15-17 is inadequate — and becomes itself a tool for abuse — when it is used to bully abuse survivors into silence. Russ Meek December 16, 2019
Credo Magazine How to Read Habakkuk Theologically Perhaps we hear faint echoes of the cross in this exchange, another instance in which God entirely turned human expectations and notions of justice on their head. Russ Meek December 2, 2019
Biblical Recorder The Line Isn’t Fuzzy. Youth Pastors Shouldn’t Date Youth The legal age of consent should not blur our vision on these issues. No youth pastor should “date” or engage in any sort of sexual relationship with any person under their care. Russ Meek November 27, 2019
Sojourners Jules Woodson: “Andy Savage Has Disqualified Himself from the Pulpit” Given the SBC leadership’s silence on this issue, Woodson would like to see the rank-and-file members of Southern Baptist churches raise their voices in protest. Russ Meek November 14, 2019
Credo Magazine How to Read Micah Theologically We can follow Jesus (see Matt 22:36–40) in categorizing Micah’s sermons under two headings: love God and love people. Russ Meek November 4, 2019
Religion News Service Was Bathsheba Raped? Yes, and Why That Matters Ideology drives action, and for many evangelicals a skewed perception of power dynamics and sexual violence is at the wheel. Russ Meek November 1, 2019
LifeWay Pastors When Legacy Becomes a Lie When I resigned from my full-time teaching job last semester, I didn’t realize all the feelings that would accompany the transition. I definitely didn’t realize how much of my identity I’d placed in my role as a professor. Russ Meek October 31, 2019
For the Church The Bible Told Us Every Girl Was Sour? The theological problem with purity culture and how we talk about the plague of pornography is that it sexualizes women (and men, though I think to a lesser extent). Russ Meek October 30, 2019
Fathom The Sins of Our Fathers Lenny was absolutely convinced there was some ontological difference between humans with pale pigmentation and those with dark. Russ Meek October 23, 2019
Facts & Trends 3 Reasons Church Leaders Should Observe the Sabbath God, the creator of the entire universe and everything in it, rested and was refreshed. I could stop right here; we don’t need any more reasons to take a Sabbath. Friend, you and me and everyone else on the planet needs to be refreshed. God modeled the way for us. Russ Meek October 21, 2019
Servants of Grace Fostering Hospitality We both knew that we wanted to foster and/or adopt children long before we met each other and were married ten years ago. Neither of us knew just how much it would stretch and strengthen our ability to be hospitable, to love our neighbors as ourselves. Russ Meek October 21, 2019
Sojourners Racism, Sexism, and A Lust For Power in the Southern Baptist Church Has our history of political maneuvering cloaked a love for power in the language of right theology? Russ Meek October 18, 2019
Servants of Grace Pastoral Care in the Digital Age If you are struggling with digital communication, I encourage you to see it not as drudgery but rather as an opportunity to extend just a little bit of God’s grace and love to those you’re emailing or tweeting with. Russ Meek October 7, 2019
