Peripatetic Pastor
Biblical Reflections from Clay Libolt
Picture of Mt Baker
Dear readers, the blog has morphed into four streams. I’ve recently added a page with blog posts on the book of Genesis, called “Riffs on Genesis,” a title I would like to use some day for a book. In the Riffs series, I’ve begun looking at one of the most intriguing stories in the Bible, the story of Jacob. The Jacob story is literarily brilliant, theologically powerful, and funny. I hope you will read the posts. The next page contains Biblical Reflections not focussed on Genesis. The third page has various Thoughts and Reflections not based directly on a biblical text. The fourth and last page has the posts on Human Sexuality that began this iteration of my blog. I hope in all of that you will find something that fits your fancy. Thanks for reading. (Click on the menu above to access the blog pages.)
Clay
The latest posts:
THE NEW CALVINISM: THESES ON DENOMINATIONAL LIFE 2
For some time now, I’ve detected a new and sometimes dissonant voice in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), particularly at the annual synodical meetings, many of which I have attended lately as a reporter for The Banner. It is a voice that was prominent at Synod 2022. It speaks a theological language more Westminster than Heidelberg […]
THESES ON DENOMINATIONAL LIFE (1)
Introduction: Trouble ahead. It’s no secret that denominationalism, a form of church life invented by Americans for America, is in trouble and has been so for some time. Denominations are splitting (or have already split), several over the issue of same sex marriage. Others are rocked by sexual scandal, lately the Southern Baptists and including notably […]
WHAT HAVE WE LOST? THE CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH POST -SYNOD 2022 (Part 1)
In the larger scheme of things, the dissolution of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), should it eventually happen, is ecclesiastical small potatoes: one more immigrant denomination absorbed into the morass of American evangelicalism. But it makes me sad if for no other reason that for many years, in the old prizefight metaphor, the CRC hit […]
Introduction
I am a retired pastor living in the Pacific Northwest (and sometimes in Arizona). Actually, I’m intermittently retired. Since my retirement, I’ve served as interim pastor four times in three churches (one twice) and once as a high school principal. I have launched this website and the accompanying blog because I love the Bible and because I believe what’s best about the Bible is often lost in the theological welter of our age. I bring to this task and to this love not only seminary training (Calvin Theological Seminary) but a Ph.D. in Ancient Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan. You may at first find my approach to the Bible different from the approach you were taught–more literary, more embedded in ancient culture–but press on. There is much to be gained and little to be lost by reading the Bible in this way.
4 responses to “HOME”
Just found your blog. I’m in.
Put me onl your list of people to receive your blog.
Daniel, at the bottom of the blog page, in the middle of a lovely picture of Fairhaven harbor, there’s a place to insert your email and sign up.
Clay
Thank you for sharing your reflection on Genesis 3. It helps me understand elements of the story that have always puzzled me in typical explanations from my tradition.