Las Vegas and Our Culture of Violence

Note: This is adapted from a 2015 article I wrote after the massacre of nine African-Americans in a Charleston church. Sadly, I didn’t have to change much to adapt it. Once again we are reeling in the aftermath of another mass killing, the worst one in U.S. history. As usual, we also have to listen to the...

The Serpent Didn’t Lie about Death

Humans have a natural fear of death, but that fear has caused us to miss the true lie of the serpent in Genesis 3. In the story Adam and Eve are told that they can eat of any tree in the garden except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, “for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” (Gen....

Tamar and Being Caught in Adultery

There is a story in the Bible about a woman who is caught having illicit sexual relations outside of marriage. The charge is undeniable, the guilt unquestionable, and the penalty indisputable: death. And thus she is condemned. But in an odd and surprising twist, her accuser and the man with whom the...

Jacob and the Face of God

In the stories of Jacob and Esau there is a long history of interpretation that presents Jacob in a more positive light than his older twin. That’s understandable in that the Jews trace their lineage through Jacob and not Esau, and it’s rather unthinkable that a non-Jew would be a better example of the...

Brooding Spirit of Creation

Theologians like to use sophisticated words like “transcendence” and “immanence” when talking about the fact that God is outside of the world yet continually active in it. The ancient Jewish writers of Scripture, however, talked about the same things by painting word pictures. Word pictures are much cooler...

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