Some people, many in fact, believe the absence of religion would make for a happier, more peaceful existence here on planet earth. In the early 1970s, John Lennon enshrined that sentiment in his best-selling ballad Imagine (though many hardcore rock historians give the songwriting nod to his widow Yoko Ono). Set to a haunting, almost...
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Pilgrims we are. The stories of my life are always a story of journey, of people on pilgrimage from here to there, from one place to the next. The most ancient story we know is that story, beginning in a garden and ending in a city, and the best stories are one more version of...
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The aftermath of contentious elections is typically followed by calls for national unity, calls to heal the divisions exposed by the electoral process. Will it be so in the aftermath of this election? Early returns are not very good, as the parties seem girded to embrace battle, not unity for our nation. What will it...
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The New Testament’s Crooked Narrative Arc: In Part I last week, I began by noting that the New Testament is not entirely straightforward when it comes to the subject of faith, vocation and culture. Revelation says that in a certain era — the era in which actual Christians lived — there was a situation where...
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Why do the Old Testament Scholars Get All the Fun? This may sound like a strange thing to say, but I’m jealous of those who get to teach the Old Testament. I get paid to teach the New Testament, which I love doing, but I’m envious of those teaching the Old. Why? When it comes...
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A Reflection on Jeremiah 29… At first, when I read this passage, I thought I would attempt to write a thorough essay explaining how I, as an African American women, a product of a divorced parent, in one of the largest urban centers in the United States, feel both daily and keenly as if I...
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