Scripture Guide

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Author

William Rowley

Keywords (9)

Scripture (3)

Updated

Jul 1, 2025

AIM Commentary

Ancient Lens

What can we learn from the historical context?

The Old, Old Story

Jesus’ resurrection and ascension (and perhaps Pentecost) are the resolution of a story that starts with all the way back to the beginning, with Adam. It is the culmination of a divine rescue plan. Humanity was to steward creation. In our Fall, we and all of God's creation suffers. But God has a plan—it starts with a man who God calls out of the city of Ur—a childless man with a barren wife to whom God promises to make a great nation out of.

Abram is to abandon his ancestral home and his clan, the normal unit of identity and power in his culture to follow the direction of an unseen God to go somewhere. And Abram…

Subscriber Content

Get Full Access Today

Interested in viewing our resources? Try our 7-day free trial.

Try Now Sign In

Author

William Rowley

William Rowley (MA, Talbot School of Theology; PhD, University of Rochester) is a freelance editor and administrative assistant for The Pastor's Workshop. He is involved in leadership at his local church and is an occasional lay preacher. His theological background is equal parts evangelical and anglican.

He is broadly interested in matters at the intersection of faith and reason. He has a Master's degree from Talbot School of Theology and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Rochester. His specializations in philosophy are epistemology (the theory of knowledge), early modern philosophy, and philosophy of religion/philosophical theology. He dabbles in ethics. William was privileged to teach philosophy, writing, and logic to undergraduates for six years in the Rochester area.

William now works for the Pastor’s Workshop on a freelance basis. He assists with customer service, marketing, design, curation, planning, and editing content. He sometimes creates content for the site, primarily in his areas of theological interest, which include Ancient Near Eastern history, culture, and Old Testament interpretation, New Testament interpretation, literary and poetic analysis of scripture, and philosophical perspectives on the Bible and theology. His ministry passions are fostering a love and reverence for scripture and increasing space within churches for the life of the mind.

William also is available as a freelance editor and writer. As an editor, he has worked on long and short-form, from blog posts to full-length published books. As an author, he has experience and expertise to work on theological, philosophical, and literary topics. Contact him through LinkedIn.

Outside of his professional life, William lives in the New Haven area in Connecticut, with his wife and two dogs.