You know: when most people get ready to write a little something for the Christmas season, they fire up the Yule log, and they have a little eggnog, and toss a little tinsel, and eat a cookie, and then they have this sweet smell on their breath as they talk about how joyful a season this . . . . Continue Reading »
I have been thinking a lot about the way we sell church-related goods and services.I have been thinking about that and about Jesus overturning the tables of the money changers and sacrificial animal sellers in the temple.The marketing inside the church has probably never been more feverish than it . . . . Continue Reading »
Now, I started reflecting on this because my kids were in the back seat of the car singing that song about Peter and John and the lame man — “Silver and Gold have I none / but such as I have give I thee / in the name of Je-e-sus Chri-i-ist/ of Nazareth rise up and walk! / He was walking and leaping and Praising God! / Walking and leaping and Praising God! / in the name of Je-e-sus Chri-i-ist/ of Nazareth rise up and walk!” Continue Reading »
The Bible contains a verse that scholars like to quote. It is from the book of Ecclesiastes: “Of making many books there is no end, and much study is weariness of the flesh” (12:12). In context it serves as a warning against the vain illusion that we can study our way to the Kingdom of God. The . . . . Continue Reading »
Jesus in the Talmud by peter schäfer princeton university press, 232 pages, $24.95 Rabbinic literature is surprisingly silent on Christianity—but Jesus makes a cameo appearance in the Talmud, and it isn’t an endearing one. In scattered passages, the Talmud’s sages portray him as a child . . . . Continue Reading »
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