Catching Up
I want to start 2026 by doing a little "catching up" on what I've been up to. As you may have guessed, I have been researching and writing about the idea that the Bible has a singular grand mission that governs all other missions and passages? This mission is very, very specific and all-encompassing. The mission is not about us but rather is about our task, and it is expressed immediately at the opening of the Bible in Gen 1:28. The task is to change the world placially toward becoming more like God's place. This task is currently in progress and is fully placial (see earlier posts).
Naturally, we humans cannot accomplish this mission alone (we need God's blessing and God's Spirit). In fact, the task will not be completed in our lifetime. Its completion awaits the return of the Perfect, Ultimate God-Human (Jesus) who will bring His home place with Him (see Rev 21 - 22) onto a fully refurbished earth.
Meanwhile, we live in the middle of this ongoing mission, doing our part in the middle of spiritually contested places. We work in and on challenging systems, amidst fallen people, and against well-organized spiritual forces. Placemaking (the place of God) is tough going. This task is the topic of Public Theology and is why God allows us humans to continue to exist. This is our life's purpose — to participate in building all locales with a sense of place that pleases God, while doing so amidst opposing forces and oppositional points of view.
But I am definitely getting way ahead of myself.
So, to begin catching you up on this thought, I invite you to download an article that I recently wrote for "Religions" journal. It is a free download that you can get by clicking here (https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16091115). Please read the whole article, including the footnotes. It is a short article and should take perhaps 30 minutes of your time.
As a quick overview, the first three sections assumptions that guide my thinking. Then the remaining sections illustration how these assumptions (about a grand mission that governs the interpretation of the Bible) guides my reading of the Bible, including my reading of Ephesians 1 as a test case.
Happy reading ... and to be continued.
David L.
