Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Summary In what follows, I will consider the “year-stamps” employed in Scripture, i.e., statements of the form, “Such-and-such an event took place in the Xth year of Y.” In the process, I will suggest some ways in which the Biblical narrative might relate to events in the extra-Biblical world, though…
In the first essay on the parable of the Prodigal Son, I suggested that the problems commentators and others encounter in interpreting Jesus three-part parable are not accidental. These are not just problems in our ignorance of cultural background. They are intentional features of the stories —stories designed to poke…
The story of the Prodigal Son is perhaps the most well-known story in the Bible. As others have observed, it may also be one of the most misunderstood. In two short essays, I will point out features of this story that are commonly neglected, aspects of Jesus’ parable that might…
The parable of Lazarus and the nameless rich man is not an independent story. It is part of a long context that begins in Luke 15:1, where Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners and the scribes and Pharisees grumble. In response to their hardheartedness, Jesus tells a three-part…
The Bible is written so that even when a reader cannot pick up on what might be deeper or more detailed aspects of a text, there is virtually always a message to be heard. In the ancient world, where the “reader” of Scripture would likely be a church official facing…
The distinction between garden (or vineyard) and field begins in Genesis 2. This relates to the ordering of the formless world. Plants of the field are contrasted with the garden planted by God in Genesis 2:5&8. Later on, under the Old Covenant the Israelites will be required to keep their…
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During the night before Jacob returns from his sojourn with Laban in Haran, a man confronts him and they wrestle (Genesis 32). Jacob refuses to let the man go and the man touches him in the yerekh - usually translated as “socket of his thigh.” He returns to the land,…
Robert Wuthnow points out ( Boundless Faith , 115-6) that improvements in technology enabled leaders to transcend denominational boundaries: “Communication and travel increased the opportunities to organize transnational ministries in new ways, just as philanthropy and fund-raising techniques did. The earlier denominational boards depended on corresponding secretaries to stay in…
I n an essay in Judgment & Grace in Dixie , Charles Wilson Reagan traces the evolution of Southern civil religion from 1920 to 1980. He argues that over the decades the civil religion of the lost cause “evolved from a public faith celebrating the virtues of a religiously sanctioned…
The ten horns join with the beast in slaughtering the harlot city Babylon. It's a macabre scene, marked by five relentless verbs - hate, desolate, make naked, eat, burn - and by a bizarre sequence of actions. It's a sacrificial sequence. An ascension offering (Leviticus 1) was prepared for offering…
N ancy Ammerman's contribution to Denominationalism is outstanding. She asks what we're studying when we study denominations, and she comes up with three answers: A group of Christian communities defined by a common set of beliefs and practices; an organization; and a cultural profile (evident, for instance, in Episcopalian jokes).…
Nancy Ammerman briefly examines the “shifting terrain” at the close of her essay in Denominationalism . Choice seems to have taken over the religious landscape, displacing ethnic associations, family and upbringing. Many change denominations during their lifetimes; fewer think it important to marry within their denominations. Congregations function independently of…
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