{"id":13542,"date":"2023-12-04T07:30:41","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T12:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stephenbarkley.com\/?p=13542"},"modified":"2023-12-30T14:50:20","modified_gmt":"2023-12-30T19:50:20","slug":"impossible-love-craig-and-medine-moussounga-keener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stephenbarkley.com\/2023\/12\/04\/impossible-love-craig-and-medine-moussounga-keener\/","title":{"rendered":"Impossible Love | Craig and M\u00e9dine Moussounga Keener"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3pGFzy9\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-fusion-200 wp-image-13543 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stephenbarkley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/41d204Ur8WL.jpg?resize=200%2C310&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Impossible Love cover\" width=\"200\" height=\"310\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stephenbarkley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/41d204Ur8WL.jpg?resize=166%2C257&amp;ssl=1 166w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stephenbarkley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/41d204Ur8WL.jpg?resize=200%2C310&amp;ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stephenbarkley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/41d204Ur8WL.jpg?w=323&amp;ssl=1 323w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a>Well that was unexpected!<\/p>\n<p>I first encountered Craig Keener through his biblical studies\u2014<em>The IVP Bible Background Commentary on the New Testament<\/em>, his four volume <em>Acts: An Exegetical Commentary<\/em>, and <em><a href=\"https:\/\/stephenbarkley.com\/2017\/07\/03\/spirit-hermeneutics-craig-s-keener\/\">Spirit Hermeneutics<\/a><\/em>, to name a few. I knew he was a prolific biblical scholar with a Pentecostal bent. I had no idea how dramatic his personal life was.<\/p>\n<p><em>Impossible Love<\/em> tells the story of Craig and M\u00e9dine Moussounga Keener in their own words. When Craig writes, you hear the story of a person wrestling with calling and relationships, a white man finding his home in the African American church. M\u00e9dine\u2019s story is something entirely different\u2014a harrowing tale of life in Congo during a civil war.<\/p>\n<p>Spoiler alert: Craig and M\u00e9dine ultimately found each other. This is a story of providence and divine guidance, of perseverance and hope. It truly is love \u201cagainst all odds.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"hangingindent\">Keener, Craig and M\u00e9dine Moussounga Keener. <em>Impossible Love: The True Story of an African Civil War, Miracles and Hope Against All Odds<\/em>. Chosen, 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well that was unexpected! I first encountered Craig Keener through his biblical studies\u2014The IVP Bible Background Commentary on the New Testament, his four volume Acts: An Exegetical Commentary, and Spirit Hermeneutics, to name a few. I knew he was a prolific biblical scholar with a Pentecostal bent. I had no idea how dramatic his personal life was. Impossible Love tells the story of Craig and M\u00e9dine Moussounga Keener in their own words. When Craig writes, you hear the story of a person wrestling with calling and relationships, a white man finding his home in the African American church. M\u00e9dine\u2019s story is something entirely different\u2014a harrowing tale of life in Congo during a civil war. Spoiler alert: Craig and M\u00e9dine ultimately found each other. This is a story of providence and divine guidance, of perseverance and hope. It truly is love \u201cagainst all odds.\u201d Keener, Craig and M\u00e9dine Moussounga Keener. Impossible [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[430,15],"tags":[3649,3652,3648,3651,3650],"class_list":["post-13542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biography","category-books","tag-chosen","tag-civil-war","tag-craig-keener","tag-love-story","tag-medine-moussounga-keener"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Impossible Love | Craig and M\u00e9dine Moussounga Keener - Stephen Barkley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/stephenbarkley.com\/2023\/12\/04\/impossible-love-craig-and-medine-moussounga-keener\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Impossible Love | Craig and M\u00e9dine Moussounga Keener - Stephen Barkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Well that was unexpected! I first encountered Craig Keener through his biblical studies\u2014The IVP Bible Background Commentary on the New Testament, his four volume Acts: An Exegetical Commentary, and Spirit Hermeneutics, to name a few. I knew he was a prolific biblical scholar with a Pentecostal bent. I had no idea how dramatic his personal life was. Impossible Love tells the story of Craig and M\u00e9dine Moussounga Keener in their own words. When Craig writes, you hear the story of a person wrestling with calling and relationships, a white man finding his home in the African American church. M\u00e9dine\u2019s story is something entirely different\u2014a harrowing tale of life in Congo during a civil war. Spoiler alert: Craig and M\u00e9dine ultimately found each other. This is a story of providence and divine guidance, of perseverance and hope. It truly is love \u201cagainst all odds.\u201d Keener, Craig and M\u00e9dine Moussounga Keener. Impossible [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/stephenbarkley.com\/2023\/12\/04\/impossible-love-craig-and-medine-moussounga-keener\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Stephen Barkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StephenDBarkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StephenDBarkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-04T12:30:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-30T19:50:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stephenbarkley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/41d204Ur8WL.jpg?fit=323%2C500&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"323\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stephen Barkley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Stephen Barkley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stephenbarkley.com\/2023\/12\/04\/impossible-love-craig-and-medine-moussounga-keener\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stephenbarkley.com\/2023\/12\/04\/impossible-love-craig-and-medine-moussounga-keener\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Stephen Barkley\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stephenbarkley.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cbaba12b06deff97c6dce1f38d94201c\"},\"headline\":\"Impossible Love | Craig and M\u00e9dine Moussounga Keener\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-04T12:30:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-30T19:50:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stephenbarkley.com\/2023\/12\/04\/impossible-love-craig-and-medine-moussounga-keener\/\"},\"wordCount\":181,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stephenbarkley.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cbaba12b06deff97c6dce1f38d94201c\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stephenbarkley.com\/2023\/12\/04\/impossible-love-craig-and-medine-moussounga-keener\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stephenbarkley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/41d204Ur8WL.jpg?fit=323%2C500&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"Chosen\",\"civil war\",\"Craig Keener\",\"love story\",\"M\u00e9dine Moussounga Keener\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Biography\",\"Book Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/stephenbarkley.com\/2023\/12\/04\/impossible-love-craig-and-medine-moussounga-keener\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stephenbarkley.com\/2023\/12\/04\/impossible-love-craig-and-medine-moussounga-keener\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/stephenbarkley.com\/2023\/12\/04\/impossible-love-craig-and-medine-moussounga-keener\/\",\"name\":\"Impossible Love | Craig and M\u00e9dine Moussounga Keener - 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