Here are some resources from my recent publications and public speaking.
Healing From the Pandemic.
Earlier in the year I was asked to give a talk for a Greek Orthodox Church, channeling the insights from my recent book to the specific issue of healing from the shock by COVID-19 and its aftermath. My PowerPoint presentation and notes are available to download as a PDF by clicking on the image below.
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The Importance of History for Biblical Studies
At Ancient Faith’s “Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy” website, I have published an article, “Modern Biblical Studies Meets Eastern Orthodoxy: A Personal Defense of Historical Scholarship.” From the article,
“If we dismiss [scholarly historical work] as unnecessary—perhaps on the erroneous assumption that the Bible can just ‘speak for itself’ or that we can approach ‘the plain meaning of Scripture’—then by default we will unconsciously read Scripture in light of our own tradition. Then when we hear words like ‘justification,’ ‘salvation,’ ‘faith,’ or ‘gospel,’ we will assume we know what these concepts mean based on how these words function in our own culture or subculture. Often, we may not even realize that we are reading the Bible through the lens of a tradition, because that tradition simply forms part of the taken-for-granted-background of how we interact with key concepts we find in Scripture. Historical scholarship can help peel away these unconscious biases.” Read more here.
Rethinking Roe vs. Wade.
At Salvo Magazine I recently published a three-part series on abortion, showing how the American public was deceived by Roe v. Wade. Contrary to claims, this ruling did not actually protect a woman’s privacy and self-determination, and indeed it cannot, since matters relating to family and personhood are inescapably public. By pretending to leave these decisions up to each woman to decide, the post Roe settlement simply enforced one de facto position on the entire nation: an unborn child is simply, in the words of Planned Parenthood, “unviable tissue mass.” The implications of this philosophical dogmatism has had real-world implications for women who wish to consider their unborn children to be persons, particularly when they are the victims of violence and forced miscarriage. My three-part series can be read at the following links:
- A Pro-Choice Bill of Goods (Part 1)
- A Pro-Choice Bill of Goods (Part 2)
- A Pro-Choice Bill of Goods (Part 3)
Interview With Holistic Christian Life
I recently had the privilege of being interview by Cynthia Damaskos of Holistic Christian Life about my book Gratitude in Life’s Trenches: How to Experience the Good Life Even When Everything Is Going. You can listen to the interview at the following link:
Gratitude in Life’s Trenches with Robin Phillips – 110