Taking back the text “If you can’t or won’t understand the Bible, others will surely interpret it for you.” This is the premise from which John Buehrens writes in his new book Understanding the Bible: An Introduction for Skeptics, Seekers, and Religious Liberals. It’s a
And that means everyone, even those you don’t like I’ve been getting Selma Massey’s hate mail. Ever since Focus on the Family decided to run a piece on their Website about Dr. Massey’s new TV show in Detroit, serendipitously called “Whosoever,” I’ve been deluged. The
Read the rest of the series INTRODUCTION I have been asked if Louise is real. Yes, and this was a real letter to her. Shortly after I had gone to my first pastorate out of the seminary, Louise invited my wife, Anna Marie, and me
Note: Numbers in brackets refer to pages in Father Taylor, the Sailor Preacher by Gilbert Haven and Thomas Russell (San Francisco: BB Russell, 1872) When you hear the tone, the year will be 1854, and the place, Boston. In Albany, NY, Elizabeth Cady Stanton (the
I’m automatically suspicious of anyone who seems to possess either an extremely limited sense of humor or, even more so, none at all. Life without a sense of humor to me would be very dark and depressing, and I honestly feel that along with the
MR. ZUSS: God never laughs! In the whole Bible! — J. B. MacLeish’s Zuss is patently wrong. The Hebrew scriptures record the laughter of God no fewer than seven times on at least six occasions.Consistently it is indignant laughter (“laughed them to scorn”) at those
“My definition of sense of humor is creating or being able to create a space where there is none. If you’re able to create a space where there is seemingly no space it is called a sense of humor.” — Sogyal Rinpoche, Tibetan Wisdom for
Read the rest of the series References in the Old Testament Law In Leviticus, chapter 18, you will find prohibitions against a man “laying with a man the laying of a woman,” and against a woman or man having sex with an animal, or “approaching
Read the rest of the series The Bible Dangerous assumptions about scripture The word of God is “perfect.” It is “true” and “flawless” as it says in the Psalms. It is complete, lacking nothing. It is true and trustworthy, in leading us to the Living
Outside a small Macedonian village close to the border between Greece and the former Yugoslavia, a lone Catholic nun keeps a quiet watch over a silent convent. When Sister Maria Cyrilla of the Order of the Perpetual Watch dies, the convent of St. Elias will