I have been posting about the passage in the last chapter of John’s Gospel in which the Risen Jesus meets the disciples at the Sea of Galilee, and suggested that this was the original and most primitive Resurrection appearance story, which long predated stories of an encounter in a Jerusalem garden. That scene also has an interesting echo in another Gospel story, which as it stands does not have a Resurrection context. But arguably, it should have had one. I... Read more
In a convoluted New York Times op-ed published this past Tuesday, Margaret Renkl argued against religiously grounded stupidity and religiously grounded exemptions from generally applicable laws. The online headline — which she might not have written — grabbed my attention: “We Are Taking Religious Freedom Too Far.” In her piece, Renkl criticized a Louisiana public school that blatantly ignored Supreme Court jurisprudence by having students read the Lord’s Prayer each day after the Pledge of Allegiance; a Nashville baker who... Read more
David R. Swartz interviews David Kirkpatrick about his new book "A Gospel for the Poor" Read more
One of our resident Trekkies examines the complicated relationship between religion and the science fiction series Star Trek. Read more
The state of Qatar, which protrudes into the Persian Gulf with Saudi Arabia to its south and Iran to its north, is only a little larger than Connecticut. Despite its size, however, it is an excellent place to observe current affairs, not least those pertaining to religion. This is what I learned during a recent visit to Doha’s decade-old International Centre for Interfaith Dialogue—among the first institution of its kind in the religiously conservative, historically inward-looking Gulf States. Qatar became... Read more
Kristin, Beth, and Chris pay tribute to writer Rachel Held Evans, who died this morning at age 37. Read more
I have been thinking about how Paul’s letters came to be collected and remembered. If anyone says the following post is pure speculation, which can neither be tested nor proven, they would be right. It’s an imaginative exercise, no more. Think of it as a detective story. To begin with solid facts, or things we can say with high confidence. Probably in the 90s AD, Luke was composing his Book of Acts, and he certainly did not know Paul’s letters... Read more
This past weekend, nearly 2,000 people made the annual pilgrimage to Manzanar, one of the concentration camps where the U.S. government incarcerated Japanese Americans during the Second World War. The pilgrimage was partly an act of historical commemoration: this year marked the fiftieth anniversary of the first pilgrimage to Manzanar, and 77 years have passed since President Roosevelt’s issuing of Executive Orders 9066, which authorized the forced removal of thousands of Japanese Americans on the West Coast. But in... Read more
This is revised from my Ancient Bench archives. I wanted to post it again, however, because it really belongs in my Disrupting Christian Patriarchy series. It shows that Christian women speaking out on behalf of women is not a new “feminist” agenda, it has roots deep in the Christian past. It shows how a woman recognized that ideas about women matter; that ideas about women shape the treatment of women. I wish more evangelical women would realize this today.... Read more
Citing a changed name for Fort Snelling, Minnesota legislators recently voted to slash the budget of the state's impressive historical society. Chris explains why such critics misunderstand history in general and military history in particular. Read more
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