A New Reading With Apologies To Luke

Column by Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers on January, 6 2022

Last year, at the height of the pandemic (or is this the height of the pandemic?), a clergy colleague asked me to write a new version of the birth of Jesus that might preserve the radical message of Luke but translate it into more contemporary metaphors.

Getting Beyond the Usual: Giving Birth to Jesus in the 2020s

Column by Rev. Lauren Van Ham on December, 17 2020

There are 3 parts of Jesus’s birth story that we want to open here, like gifts.  There are many parts of this story that, once unwrapped, hold great truth and importance including dreams, angels and what was going on for Joseph. 

Part XII Matthew: Matthew Introduces John the Baptist-The New Elijah

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on January, 30 2014

Matthew has thus far mined the Hebrew Scriptures for texts that will advance his thesis that Jesus has fulfilled the Jewish messianic expectations. In the opening genealogy, he has …

The Birth of Jesus, Part XV. The Journey to Bethlehem

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on June, 13 2013

The creators of the birth narratives, Matthew and Luke, used two motifs in interpreting the life of Jesus of Nazareth. First, each was historically aware that Jesus hailed from …

The Birth of Jesus, Part XIII. Introducing the Lucan Story

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on May, 9 2013

Somewhere six to ten years after the Gospel of Matthew was written, another gospel, the one we call Luke, makes its appearance. Both Matthew and Luke had Mark as …

The Birth of Jesus, Part XI. Matthew Weaves Together Proof Texts from Isaiah, Micah, Hosea and from an Unknown Source

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on April, 11 2013

Christianity was born in the synagogue and the original followers of Jesus were primarily observant Jews. They gathered in the synagogue regularly on the Sabbath for worship. A major …

The Birth of Jesus, Part X: Matthew Sources and the Hebrew Scriptures

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on February, 21 2013

Reading the Bible with any real comprehension in the 21st century is not an easy task. The gospels are a product of the 1st century, a dramatically different time, …

The Birth of Jesus, Part IX. Was There Scandal at the Manger?

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on February, 14 2013

The prologue to Mathew’s gospel, which also serves to introduce the story of Jesus’ miraculous birth, is now complete. Matthew writing as he does to the members of a …