During my youth and adolescence, my father was the president and primary fundraiser for a small Bible school that he had cofounded around the time I was born. I spent a bridge year there between graduating from high school when I had turned seventeen just two months before graduation and going away to college 2500 miles away from home. In addition to my father, the school had about a half dozen faculty, several of whom were pastors at local churches... Read more
A few days ago Jeanne said “I’ve got something you have to go to.” I’ve learned over 35+ years that her ideas about what I should do are, more often than not, on point–this was one of those times. Not too many spouses would realize that “Theology Beer Camp” would be a perfect fit for their significant other–it’s a little niche–but within 24 hours I had arranged for my son and I to attend (he lives just a few hours... Read more
In one of the possible readings from the Jewish scriptures for this coming Sunday, we find the the prophet Elijah sitting under a broom tree, exhausted and possibly suicidal. It is the middle part of a story from First Kings that contains a great deal of spiritual and psychological wisdom. Here’s how I treat this story in my forthcoming book A Year of Faith and Philosophy. In the Ordinary Time 2 Year C reading from the Jewish scriptures, we find a... Read more
Organized religion often is a source of packaged answers and comfortable solutions to important questions about God and ourselves. Oneof today’s lectionary reading options from the Jewish scriptures is one of my favorites.. It suggests that eventually such answers and solutions must be left behind. In Exodus, the Israelites (who were miraculously delivered from the pursuing Egyptian armies by the parting of the Red Sea a few chapters earlier), are complaining. And with good reason, because they are hungry in... Read more
He lived over two millennia ago, and as far as we know he never wrote anything. We learn everything we know about him from others, often in reports and descriptions written decades after his death. The reliability and accuracy of these reports are often called into question, since their authors clearly have agendas and interests that undermine objectivity and an accurate accounting of the facts. He had a lot to say and attracted many followers who hung on his every... Read more
It often is a surprise to those who know that I am a college professor to learn that I am also a sports fanatic. In truth, the most rabid sports fans I know are some of my academic colleagues—we talk trash about our favorite teams and athletes with the same energy you might find at any sports bar; indeed, we often have such arguments while drinking adult beverages. My own sports addictions have become selective as I get older, now... Read more
Today’s gospel is the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand, one of the few Jesus stories that makes it into all four gospels. Here’s the section in my new book A Year of Faith and Philosophy that addresses this miracle. The Ordinary Time 10 Year A and B gospel is one of Jesus’ most famous miracles: the feeding of the five thousand. This miracle is reported in all four of the canonical gospels which, for once, pretty much agree... Read more
It’s been a crazy week, hasn’t it? I have deliberately avoided going political on this blog for some time, but I suspect I may have a diffficult time sticking to that in the coming weeks. The presumptive Democratic nominee for the presidency is a woman of color (gasp), an accomplished woman with prosecuting attorney, attorney general of the most populous state in the country, senator of that same state, and Vice President of the United States in her resume. Yet... Read more
All of us live in a world filled with words. For academics, words are the tools of our trade. Even for introverted academics such as I am, the tendency both verbally and in writing is to think that the more words one uses, the better. One of the most difficult things I’ve had to learn during the decade-plus of writing this blog is how to be concise and how to introduce, develop, and complete an idea in no more than... Read more
I’ve spent significant time over the past fourteen or fifteen months immersed in the Bible. I’ve often said and written that I was brainwashed in the Bible as a youth, so I’ll put my knowledge of and familiarity with scripture up against most anyone’s (except those whose job it is to be buried in the Bible all the time (priests, pastors, theologians, etc.). But this is different. I began assembling material for a book tentatively called A Freelance Christian’s Guide to... Read more
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