The Gospel, known as John, is a paradox for progressive Christians. On the one hand, it seems to offer much egalitarian goodness and spiritual depth and insight. On the other hand, it is the gospel that’s been weaponized the most by conservative evangelicals and wielded to serve as a gate for who is in and who is out of the Christian faith – and salvation.
The gospels of Mark and Matthew were composed while the Christian movement was still part of the synagogue. The gospel of Luke may well have been written after the …
The nature miracles attributed to Jesus in the gospel tradition were not supernatural events that marked his life as divine. They were rather Moses stories interpretively wrapped around Jesus …
Salome was a dancer, she danced before the king.
She wiggled and she wobbled and she …
In this episode Jesus asks: “Can one read the signs correctly? Does a clear sunset today anticipate fair weather tomorrow? Do dark clouds announce the presence of a storm? …
Our study last week has helped to make it obvious, I hope, that Matthew borrowed …
Labor Day is over. Little children, carrying new book satchels and wearing new clothes, have found their way back to their schools. University students have returned to their campuses …
In recent columns, we have looked at the origins of what has come to be called “The Doctrine of the Atonement.” We noted that the day, in the calendar …
Matthew observes Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, with a flashback story in which John the Baptist, the quintessential Rosh Hashanah figure, although in prison, sends messengers to Jesus …
We return this week to our ongoing study of the gospel of Matthew after a six week hiatus in which we examined, first the use of the concept of …