Archives

February 2021

February 21, 2021
Satan was testing Jesus, not tempting him as popularly imagined—and Jesus successfully passed his trials....
February 17, 2021
While Western Bible readers can easily discover that biblical people fasted, learning why they did...
February 15, 2021
One way to prepare for Lent and Easter this year is to grapple with spurious...
February 14, 2021
Here comes Sunday’s Gospel about Jesus brokering wholeness for a leper—except he wasn’t really a...
February 13, 2021
Is biblical Christianity possible, or even desirable, in a 21st-century American cultural context? I hear...
February 07, 2021
Don’t let spurious familiarity distort this Sunday’s Gospel, where folk healer Jesus helps Peter’s mother-in-law....
February 03, 2021
Paul never experienced guilt or other psychological states familiar to Americans. Recently, I wrote about...

January 2021

January 29, 2021
The Pastoral Epistles were not really written by Paul to Timothy or Titus, but that...
January 25, 2021
That Paul never converted (he never switched religions) makes for a fascinating discussion on the...
January 22, 2021
Marvel's WandaVision, more than just terrific superhero fun, has something deeply spiritual to give viewers. Last...
January 17, 2021
Strange and peculiar things about evangelizing and more fill this Sunday’s Gospel of John 1:35-42....
January 15, 2021
History repeatedly shows a third-generation interest, which illuminates the origins of the Gospels as authored...
January 12, 2021
Being culturally deaf to the Mediterranean hero Jesus makes following his edicts and commands a...
January 10, 2021
Miss the cultural cues, and you'll likely disengage from the Gospel story of Jesus’ Baptism....
January 06, 2021
Cussing and prayer, two healing balms, help when your country’s in chaos. Goddamn, I feel...

December 2020

December 18, 2020
Americans find growing problems in the two different Gospel stories of Jesus' birth, both true,...
December 15, 2020
Only “Matthew” and “Luke” tell stories of Jesus’ infancy—from where did they get their information?...
December 11, 2020
Do not let your hearts be troubled by Christian Christmas-bashers calling the Season Pagan. Have...
December 09, 2020
The Immaculate Conception showcases why it is better to be wrong for the right reason...
December 05, 2020
The same stupidity fixing some Catholics into seeing Saint Nick as an MMA champion kills...
December 05, 2020
Our model for describing Revelation and Mark 13 is fundamentally flawed. Around this time of...

November 2020

November 29, 2020
This Sunday's Gospel, taken from Mark 13, is about being ready, but not for the...
November 26, 2020
Thanksgiving came in a messy but beautiful way for your fellow dying inmate. How goes...
November 24, 2020
There are tremendous benefits of understanding Jesus and the New Testament communities in ways honest...
November 19, 2020
If the Master in the Parable of the Talents represents God, who needs the Devil? ...
November 17, 2020
Move church or any other word through space and time, and you necessarily change its...
November 15, 2020
Reading the Parable of the Talents respectfully takes work, Americans! American Christians inescapably botch the...
November 13, 2020
Was Jesus a shameful or honorable son? Perspective goes a long way in how we...
November 10, 2020
The devastating report released by the Vatican forces Catholics to face the truth about JPII...
November 07, 2020
Homophobia forces many Christians to disproportionately apply ethical gravity to two obscure Greek terms while...
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