Ron Julian

Ron Julian has been a teacher at McKenzie Study Center, an institute of Gutenberg College, since 1982. He is also a tutor at Gutenberg College, the author of Righteous Sinners, and a co-author of The Language of God: A Commonsense Approach to Understanding and Applying the Bible. He has a B.A. in linguistics and an M.A. in religion. His focus is biblical exegesis and communicating the gospel. Other interests include biblical languages, film, music, literature, and computer technology.

Below you will find the following materials by Ron Julian:

Articles

  • At the Right Hand. Looks at several Bible passages to discuss the past and present significance of Jesus being God’s Messiah. (12/10)
  • Hidden in a Field. Discusses one of Jesus’ kingdom parables. (11/10)
  • Hallowed Be Thy Name. Elucidates the opening lines of the Lord’s Prayer. (1/10)
  • Costly and Free. Answers the question, "Do the promises of the gospel come to us for free or at great cost?" (1/08)
  • The Friend at Midnight. (Luke 11: 5-8) Clarifies Jesus’ teaching in the Parable of the Friend at Midnight and how that teaching relates to prayer. (10/09)
  • A Dialogue. Explores Christianity's claims as a valid and coherent worldview. (4/06)
  • Joy. Looks at the biblical evidence for the nature of joy as a fruit of the Spirit. (8/07)
  • Is the Gospel Anti-Semitic?. Repudiates the thesis of inherent New Testament anti-Semitism by examining the unique relationship between God, the Nation of Israel, and individual Jews. (4/04)
  • Bad Guilt. Discusses the importance of knowing God's merciful grace and believing in His promise of forgiveness while acknowledging "true guilt." (4/05)
  • Giving Thanks. Looks at the importance of gratitude. (11/03)
  • Is Goodness Boring?. Shows how "virtue" suffers in two book-to-movie stories. (5/03)
  • Fundamentalism and Biblical Interpretation. Looks at the impact of Christian fundamentalism on how we understand and apply the Bible's teaching. (11/02)
  • Waiting for God. Discusses the biblical virtue of patience. (10/02)
  • Osama & Me. Responds to society's growing intolerance to the truth claims of Christianity. (4/02)
  • The Thief in the Night. (Matthew 24: 42-51) Discusses what should be our attitude toward end-time events. (12/01)
  • Answers to Chapter One. Provides answers to the study questions at the end of chapter one of The Language of God. (2/02)
  • Answers to Chapter Four. Provides answers to the study questions at the end of chapter four of The Language of God. (2/02)
  • The Prayer of Jabez. Examines the popular book "The Prayer of Jabez." (7/01)
  • Longing for Glory. (I Corinthians 3:18) Defines the "glory" that is the hope of every believer. (6/00)
  • Money and Contentment. Explores the connection between genuine Christian faith and our attitudes about money. (8/95)
  • Why We Are (gulp!) Home Schooling. Presents the issues that led one family to home school their children. (11/93)
  • How the Story Ends. Reviews three movies that highlight our culture's semi-biblical view of death. (8/99)
  • A Little Light Reading. Presents a personal appreciation of Christian values in the arts, as seen in the Father Brown stories. (6/92)
  • Practically Speaking. Asserts that often the most valuable and "practical" teaching is the most theoretical. (4/99)
  • What Sort of People?. Exhorts believers to personally wrestle with and embrace the gospel. (3/97)
  • The Most Important Things in Life. Examines the nature of the true wisdom which arises from Christian faith. (9/87)
  • Drawing the Line. Proposes a biblical model for deciding when to "draw the line" over doctrinal disagreements. (9/90)
  • Chosen for Glory. Explores the way in which the Bible's teaching on the Christian life can only be understood in the light of God's sovereign control of His creation. (2/93)
  • Biblical?. Asserts that "doing what the Bible says" is not always biblical. (1/01)
  • The Next Time I Study Revelation. (Revelation) Sheds light on the nature of the Bible's most enigmatic book. (8/98)
  • My Next Mid-life Crisis. (I Corinthians 12, 13) Presents I Corinthians 12 and 13 as the ultimate answer to a believer's "mid-life crisis." (9/91)
  • In Defense of God’s Love. (Romans 5:1-11) Uses Romans 5 to describe and clarify the enigmatic love of God. (2/97)
  • The Prayers of Paul. Holds up the great prayers of Paul as a mirror in which to examine our fundamental commitments. (2/96)
  • Counting the Cost. (Luke 14:26-33) Proposes that we OUGHT to be like the man who doesn't build a tower and the king who doesn't go to battle. (8/94)
  • Testing God. (Matthew 4:5-7) Looks at the prohibition against "testing God" found in the second temptation of Jesus. (2/98)
  • The Power of the Parables. (Matthew 13) Presents the dynamic manner in which the parables of Jesus communicate. (4/93)
  • The Lord is My Shepherd. (Psalm 23) Explains the life and death issues involved in Psalm 23. (7/97)

Audio Series

  • An Anniversary Medley (Oktoberfuss 2004). On the occasion of McKenzie Study Center's 25th anniversary and Gutenberg College's 10th, Gutenberg tutors present "An Anniversary Medley" of talks at the 2004 Oktoberfuss:
    Jack Crabtree reflects on the nature, role, and value of personal Bible study.
    R. Wesley Hurd proposes that all forms of art are formed by the interplay of the artist's beliefs and the effort to create meaningfully.
    David Crabtree argues that our understanding of the oft cited analogy of the human body's "organization" has significant implications for the individual's life in the Church.
    Ron Julian takes a balanced look at the argument of the very popular book The Purpose Driven Life. (Also on iTunes)
  • Being a Spiritual Person. McKenzie Study Center teacher Ron Julian proposes a solidly biblical foundation for understanding the heart of Christian spirituality. This class explores the role of the Holy Spirit in the believer's life, as well as the biblical perspective on spiritual disciplines such as prayer, Bible study, and so on. (This series was presented in Fall 2006 as an evening class of McKenzie Study Center, an institute of Gutenberg College. The third talk in this series is not available.) (Also on iTunes)
  • Christmas. Talks given at annual Reformation Fellowship Christmas celebrations. (Also on iTunes)
  • Colossians. Talks by Ron Julian on the Apostle Paul's letter to the Colossians, given at Reformation Fellowship. (Also on iTunes)
  • Coming to Truth. Gutenberg tutors and others within the Gutenberg College community describe the intellectual journey that led them to conclude that Christianity is true. (This series was presented in Winter 2008 as an evening class of McKenzie Study Center, an institute of Gutenberg College.) (Also on iTunes)
  • Corinthians (First Epistle). Talks by Ron Julian on 1 Corinthians, given at Reformation Fellowship. The Corinthian church was fractious and troubled; these talks explain Paul's corrective admonitions to the Corinthians concerning worldliness, sexuality, spirituality, and more. (Talks 28, 33, and 36 are not available.) (Also on iTunes)
  • Corinthians (Second Epistle). Talks by Ron Julian on 2 Corinthians, given at Reformation Fellowship. By the time Paul wrote this letter, his relationship with the Corinthians had deteriorated even further; these talks explore the fine line that Paul must walk between defending his gospel and defending himself. (Also on iTunes)
  • Democracy: A User's Manual (SI 2010). We all love America's Founding Fathers, but what did they really say? Does their plan still work? Gutenberg tutors discuss the history and future of American democracy. These talks were giving as part of Gutenberg College's 2010 Summer Institute. Modeled after Gutenberg College's "Great Books" approach to education, small group discussion of historical, contemporary, and biblical authors is the heart of the Summer Institute. Daily lectures (available here at iTunes U) help put the topics and readings in perspective. Works discussed at the 2010 SI: The Brothers Karamazov (Fyodor Dostoyevsky); The Federalist Papers (James Madison); Individualism and Economic Order (F. A. Hayek); Democracy in America (Alexis de Tocqueville); The Political Illusion (Jacques Ellul). (Also on iTunes)
  • Doing Christianity. What is a follower of Christ supposed to DO? This course presents a three-part picture of Christian discipleship: "Knowing the Truth," "Embracing the Truth," and "Living the Christian Life." (This series was presented in 2003-2004 as an evening class of McKenzie Study Center, an institute of Gutenberg College.) (Also on iTunes)
  • Easter. Talks given at annual Reformation Fellowship Easter celebrations. (Also on iTunes)
  • Fruit of the Spirit. Ron Julian speaks at Reformation Fellowship about the fruit of the Spirit the Apostle Paul lists in Galatians 5. (Also on iTunes)
  • How Jewish Was Jesus? (Oktoberfuss 2011). Jesus and all of his Apostles were Jews. Yet by the second century, the church had begun to turn its back on its Jewish origins. The 2011 Oktoberfuss Conference explores the significance that this "divorce" from Judaism and the text of the Hebrew Bible had on the development of Christian thought. (Also on iTunes)
  • James. Talks by Ron Julian on the book of James, given at Reformation Fellowship. James is famous for seeming to disagree with Paul by urging justification by works; in these talks, Ron Julian carefully explains James' argument, showing its coherence with itself and with the rest of the Bible. (Talk 14 is not available.) (Also on iTunes)
  • John's Gospel. Talks by Ron Julian on the Gospel of John, given at Reformation Fellowship. John carefully focuses his gospel on key themes concerning the nature of faith; in these talks Ron Julian gives a big-picture overview of the way John weaves these themes throughout the book. (Also on iTunes)
  • Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 & 25. Ron Julian speaks on the Olivet Discourse, Jesus' discussion in Matthew 24 and 25 about the end of the age, at Reformation Fellowship, a church in Eugene, Oregon. (Also on iTunes)
  • Peter (First Epistle). Talks by Ron Julian on 1 Peter, given at Reformation Fellowship in 2009. In Peter's first letter, the apostle addresses the connection between our belief in the gospel and the way we live. (Also on iTunes)
  • Prayer. Ron Julian looks at several passages in the Bible to build a biblical view of prayer. Talks 1-16 were given in 1998-1999; Talk 17, not originally part of the series, was given in 2001. All the talks were given at Reformation Fellowship. (Also on iTunes)
  • Prayer and Perseverance. The parables of the Unjust Judge and the Friend at Midnight are often thought to present the key to getting our prayers answered: perseverance. Ron Julian teaches on petitionary prayer and what these parables really say about it. These talks were given at Reformation Fellowship. (Also on iTunes)
  • Psalms. Talks on Psalms by teachers in the Gutenberg community. These talks were given at Reformation Fellowship. (Also on iTunes)
  • RF Talks: Ron Julian. Individual talks given by Gutenberg tutor Ron Julian at Reformation Fellowship, a church in Eugene, Oregon. (Also on iTunes)
  • Sermon on the Mount. Talks by Ron Julian on the Sermon on the Mount, given at Reformation Fellowship. Matthew 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount, is one of the most significant bodies of teaching in the Bible. (Also on iTunes)
  • Soren Kierkegaard (Summer Institute 2007). Often called the first existentialist philosopher, Kierkegaard has influenced both Christian and non-Christian thinkers. Talks given at Gutenberg College's 2007 Summer Institute explore the relevance of Kierkegaard's project to the Christian believer. The play "Son of Abraham" by Tim McIntosh was also presented. (Also on iTunes)
  • The Holy Spirit. Ron Julian teaches on the Holy Spirit. These talks were given in 1997 at Reformation Fellowship, a church in Eugene, Oregon. (Also on iTunes)
  • The Mind of Christ. Talks by Ron Julian exploring the major themes in the teaching of Jesus, given at Reformation Fellowship. (Talk 13 did not record, but the material taught was re-recorded in talks 16 & 17.) (Also on iTunes)
  • Thessalonians (First & Second Epistles). Talks by Ron Julian on the books of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, given at Reformation Fellowship. The letters to the Thessalonians were early letters, written to encourage young Christians in churches only recently started by Paul. In these talks, Ron Julian gives an overview of Paul's admonitions and explores Paul's teaching on the end of the age. (Also on iTunes)
  • Those Who Belong to God. Ron Julian discusses how the Bible describes the people who belong to God. These talks were given in 1996 at Reformation Fellowship, a church in Eugene, Oregon. (Also on iTunes)
  • What We Believe: Answers to Questions. Ron Julian answers common questions concerning Christian faith and practice. These talks were given in 2001 at Reformation Fellowship, a church in Eugene, Oregon. (Also on iTunes)
Ron Julian

Books

Righteous Sinners
The Language of God

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