The Islamic Jesus: How the King of the Jews Became a Prophet of the Muslimsby mustafa akyolst. martin’s, 288 pages, $26.99 On September 25, 2017, Mustafa Akyol was arrested by the Malaysian religious police. He had given two lectures in Kuala Lumpur, including a lecture in which he argued against . . . . Continue Reading »
Jehu is one of those hyper-violent Old Testament characters who make Christians uncomfortable. What could he possibly have in common with Jesus? Continue Reading »
John, recounting the story of Lazarus, gives us a God who does not fit neatly into the comfortable theodicies of our postmodern sensibility. Continue Reading »
On Saturday, I watched good friends carry a miniature white casket up the aisle of our parish church, to be laid before the altar for a funeral Mass. My friends have entered the season of Lent in a profound way. Continue Reading »
I made my first confession last month, and it was easier than I expected. Not that I enjoyed recalling misdeeds from 2010, or that I wasn’t nervous when I stepped away from the parishioners in the middle of Mass that morning in St. Vincent Ferrer and entered the dark quiet of the confessional. But . . . . Continue Reading »
Rachel Held Evans is once again arguing against “The False Gospel of Gender Binaries.” Regrettably, she does little more than provide us with a reminder of a textbook example of eisegesis (reading “into” the biblical text one's own ideology) rather than exegesis (reading “out of” . . . . Continue Reading »
The eleventh chapter of John opens with Jesus across the Jordan, away from Judea, laying low after having escaped being stoned to death at the Temple. It is there that he receives word from Bethany—from Mary and Martha, Lazarus’s sisters—to hurry and aid his friend who is sick. Continue Reading »
Celibacy is not simply a practice that improves an individual's self-mastery. It is a way of life that strengthens churches, communities, and cities. Continue Reading »
It all started when a guy told me in a Facebook post that if someone tells him he is humble, it is a certain sign he isn’t. Though I told him he should just be humble enough to take my word for it, nonetheless, I decided to consult the New Testament, if only to straighten out a few things. The short of it is, I’m pretty sure humility is overrated, at least as preachers tell it. Continue Reading »