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In this Research Spotlight, I am excited to share a conversation I had with Kevin Burr. Kevin is a Ph.D. student at Asbury Theological Seminary, having previously completed his M.Div. at the Harding School of Theology and a Masters in Education at Harding University. He is also one of the ministers at the Nicholasville Church of Christ in Kentucky.
Kevin had recently conducted a retreat for worship leaders on how worship functions as spiritual formation. I wanted to hear some of the ideas Kevin had been cultivating, and am glad to share them with you. Our conversation in the video includes:
- Kevin’s studies on Ephesians 2 and what it means for the church to be built collectively into a spiritual temple
- Revelation 4, and some implications of the throne room scene
- The way in which all of us are being shaped at all times by something or someone
- How we can think more deliberately about our worship, the deeper meaning behind what is occurring, and how our methods affect our outcomes
Resources:
- Kevin regularly shares brief, but thoughtful video devotionals on the Nicholasville Church of Christ’s Facebook fan page which you may enjoy.
- R.T. France’s commentary on Matthew.
- Joel Green, The World of the New Testament. Kevin suggests especially chapter 19, pp 228-41. For more information about the Qumran community. On the same subject, see also Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity.
- Mark Powell’s book Centered in God. Powell is a professor of theology and church history at the Harding School of Theology under whom Kevin and I both studied. This book is about Christian spirituality, drawing especially from Trinitarian theology. If you’re not sure what to do with the doctrine of the Trinity, it’s a good place to start.
- Craig Keener’s commentary on Revelation. Keener is a world-class New Testament scholar who is Kevin’s supervising professor in the Ph.D. program at Asbury.
- An article on how the Orthodox Church uses Revelation to shape their liturgy, as mentioned briefly in our discussion.
- The chiasmus Kevin references from Ephesians 2:
this is the best one yet. I really enjoyed the concepts. I need to re-listen to this to understand it better. Thank you
Thanks Joe! Kevin is a meticulous scholar and always does good work. Glad you got to check it out. Looking forward to sharing more of his insights on the later chapters of John. Stay tuned…