This Eastertide series is ostensibly about resurrection displayed in Scripture other than the Easter story, but it’s turning out to be just as much about ruining our favorite childhood stories from the Bible. This week, we took on Ruth. If you’re like me, you grew up thinking this was one of the great romances of the Bible. Ruth and Boaz …
The Intimacy of Faith
The Gospel of John is often regarded as a very “spiritual” text, perhaps even an abstract, theological text. Some think it was included in the canon largely because it made claims about Jesus that other Gospels did not, claims that had become important to the Church, such as Jesus being God and stuff. This, in turn, creates the possibility of …
Faith in Doubt, Doubt in Faith
Qohelet, the primary voice of Ecclesiastes, has a penchant for hedging. There is no profit in wisdom or foolishness – the wise and the foolish will both die alike – but it’s probably still better to be wise. Ultimately, God is inscrutable, but we should probably honor God anyway. Is this capitulation to the common wisdom that Qohelet spends so …
What I Meant to Say Was…
On Sunday, I was highly critical of Robert Jeffress, the pastor of First Baptist Dallas, as well as others of his ilk that are famous for their criticism of homosexuality. You can read my comments here, but the main point was that any ethical stance must risk something. This follows from Jesus’ claim in John 15:13: “No one has greater …
Desires in the Darkness
Often what stands out about people in Bible stories is not their virtue but their very strong wants. Makes me wonder—do our desires propel us in ways that God can use?