Pursuing an Impossible Future

Walter Brueggeman, in The Prophetic Imagination, points out that the defining characteristic of the biblical prophets was not the ability to predict the future, especially not in the Nostradamus-type way that we tend to think of it in modern times. Neither was their role primarily that of acting as the...

Joseph and the Egyptian Slaves

In most ancient literature, the heroes tend to be very good, with few flaws, while the villains tend to be very bad with few redeeming qualities. Not so in the Bible. Jesus’ disciples are good guys with major flaws—Judas’s betrayal, Peter’s denial, Thomas’s doubting. Paul is a former murderer. David, a man...

Getting Rich on Human Suffering

Years ago there was a guy I knew who owned and operated a small finance company. He loaned money to individuals, generally people who couldn’t get a loan from a bank because of various reasons—inconsistent employment, insufficient annual income, bad credit history, etc. Of course, he charged them a higher...

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