The purpose of this site is to explore a wide variety of areas related to biblical studies, theology, cultural issues, history, the interaction science and evolution, the broad purposes of God for creation, and how the cruciform, kenotic (self-emptying) love of God permeates everything, with particularly interest in serving the marginalized and weak.

Our hope is to give thoughtful exploration of these and other areas, to bring effective scholarship of others to bear on these topics, to challenge entrenched perspectives – both left and right, to contribute to the on-going, work-in-progress discussion of a wide variety of biblical studies. Although I have particular interests, I am more of a generalist so the topics will be broad ranging. I also plan for and hope to see others to contribute to the blog and perhaps incorporate multiple, regular site writers.

Personal

My name is Jeff Young. I presently serve as a minister and shepherd/elder with The Church at Birmingham (CAB), in Birmingham, Alabama. I’m married to Melanie (34 years this August) an amazing woman, with a courageous, servant heart. We have two adult, married children in their late 20’s, Winston (wife, Ellen) and Camille (Josh). We have a grandson approaching age 2, Jason, who has brought great joy to our lives and a granddaughter, Amelia Kate, due to be born in the fall of 2018.

I was born in Buffalo, NY in January of 1961. I was raised as a Catholic. My first memories are from California, where our family lived from 1962 to 1967 (first in Cupertino, just outside of San Jose, and then in Canoga Park, in the San Fernando Valley). We returned to Buffalo in 1967 and I lived there until 1978. I hope to share some of my family background and my many struggles as young man at some point in this blot (about the time of my father’s death, when I was 11, I began to drink, became heavily immersed in drugs and crime until I was about 18). Thankfully, a family in Texas, who lived next door to an older brother with whom I was visiting, rescued me, by the grace of God, out of a life headed for certain disaster.

Aside from New York and California, I’ve lived in Virginia (6 months), Texas (off and on for 3 years), Florida (7 years), Georgia (2 years), The Czech Republic (2 years), North Carolina (13 years), and Alabama (12 years and counting).

Professional

My educational background is varied. I attended a small college in Temple Terrace, FL, Florida College where my focus was on biblical studies and philosophy. They did not have a four year degree program at the time and I completed a 3 year certificate in Biblical Studies (I needed about four more classes that would have brought the equivalent of a BA). After receiving an AA and the 3 year Biblical Studies certificate, I attended the University of South Florida in Tampa. I originally majored in Philosophy and spent about three semesters in upper level classes. But, my interests shifted to Economics and received a BA in Econ with a minor in Philosophy, I then went on to graduate school and received my Masters in Econ at USF in 1988.

In 1990, after two years working as a Performance Auditor for the State of Georgia, My wife and then 1 1/2 year old son, Winston, moved to the Czech Republic for missionary work as independent missionaries, raising our own support from a variety of gracious churches and individuals, after the collapse of the Iron Curtain. We lived and served there for two years alongside 3-4 other couples (one, in particular, Bill Bynum). When we returned we worked with a church in Winston-Salem, NC from 1992 to 2005.

In 2005 we moved to Birmingham, AL to work with a church in Cahaba Heights, a suburb. During that time we began to serve the downtown Birmingham community. We’ve been involved in serving in the downtown community of Birmingham for nearly ten years, near the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009, when several families in our church began serving meals at a local homeless shelter, First Light Women’s Shelter, and that soon provided an opportunity for conducting a Bible and Counseling class each week. In 2013, several disciples banded together to start Church at Birmingham (CAB) with a focus in the downtown community in Birmingham and we’ve been working with this church every since. We meet in the Southside area of Birmingham.

Today we conduct regular classes at three different shelters, and many private individual classes among the homeless in our area. We serve those in half-way houses, drug rehab facilities, and people living on the street. Our purpose is to bring shalom (peace and general well-being) to the city by walking in incarnational, kenotic (self-emptying), cruciform love for all, particularly the marginalized and poor. Hence the domain name for this site.

Reading and Scholarly Interests

Since my college years in the early 1980’s, my interests in reading a broad range of in-depth biblical scholarship was spurred by two professors, Phil Roberts (deceased) and Melvin Curry,  who gave focus to the importance of interacting with scholarly biblical studies and theologies – both evangelical and those from a more liberal perspective. This interest and focus became particularly focused in 1990. I’ve read as much as possible over the last three decades. My focus has been in the realm of historical background studies of the biblical texts, theology, and science and evolution. My perspectives generally in line with evolutionary creationism espoused at Biologos.org  . Among the scholars with whom I’ve interacted in reading extensively include: C.S. Lewis, Robert Alter, Anthony Thiselton, N.T. Wright, Richard Bauckham, Michael Gorman, Richard Hays, Ellen Davis, Ben Witherington, I. Howard Marshall, John Polkinghorne, Miroslav Volf, Peter Enns, Jurgen Moltmann, John Walton, Gerhard von Rad, Mark Noll (and several other historians of religion). I’ve also read extensively from non-scholars John Stott and Tim Keller among others.

Entertainment Interests

On a personal reading level I’m a huge fan of John LeCarre and I believe I have read every one of his novels.

My wife and I are big movie goers and have been since we began dating in the early 80’s. I became a big fan of drama as a young man in the early 70’s after seeing The French Connection in 1971 and then The Godfather, and am a Film Noir fanatic. We both have a great appreciation for performance art in film and television in particular. We love foreign films, particularly French film. Some of our favorites on television the last several years, include Breaking Bad, True Detective, Fargo (TV), Game of Thrones, Westworld, Peaky Blinders, and Better Call Saul, as well as a number of European and Public Television programs, especially detective/crime programs, including Endeavor, The Tunnel, among others.