May Day, in ancient Western culture, was the day that men and women took a big bath, after stinking most of the winter, and got all cleaned up and dressed up, and did the mating ritual known as the May pole dance, which in turn led to a season of courting and then marriages as summer dawned in June. If you are wondering where the tradition of June brides come from, it comes from this whole matrix of ideas. As... Read more

I’m very happy to report that my NT Theology and Ethics (2 volumes) is now available on Kindle. Marc Axelrod, you have been put on notice 🙂 BW3 Read more

Here’s a video I did for Seedbed, meant to tease your mind into active thought. Having read through the comments a couple of points should be added: 1) in the video sometimes I say cross when I meant cloth. It was taped in one sitting, so c’est la vie; 2) there are various junctures and ways Jesus’ nose could have been broken— during the flagellation, when he fell with the cross, when he was hit in the face while speaking... Read more

John Grisham is too well known for his full length legal thrillers to need any introduction, but what is less well known is that he is an excellent short story writer as well, as is demonstrated amply in the seven short stories which comprise Ford County. Some southern writers have proved to be much better at short stories than novels (e.g. O. Henry) and others much better at novels than short stories (e.g. Walker Percy), but Grisham is ambidextrous as... Read more

Adam Hamilton has once more entered into the fray of making pronouncements about what the Bible does and does not advocate when it comes to same sex sexual activity and same sex marriage, and you can read his post here, http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/6876/the-bible-homosexuality-and-the-umc-part-one only the first of four such posts leading up to the General Conference in a couple of weeks. My concern is with the misinterpretation of the Bible in this post as well as the misrepresentation of Methodist cultural trends... Read more

“The abnegation of reason is not the evidence of faith but the confession of despair. Reason and reverence are natural allies, though untoward circumstances may sometimes interpose and divorce them”— J.B. Lightfoot Read more

The next installment of the Star Wars reboot, is in production. Here is the first official trailer. The movie is coming in December, as it did last year. See what you think, and may the schwartz be with you…. 🙂 BW3 Read more

Q8.BEN: One last issue for this part of the discussion. It seems clear to me that Paul is trying to avoid the reciprocity spin cycle in his discussion in 1 Cor. 9. He is working to support himself in Corinth because there was a danger of his being co-opted to be an in house teacher by some wealthy Christian, and he didn’t want to take on those obligations which would not give him freedom to come and go and share... Read more

Q7.BEN: The discussion of 1 Tim. 3.1-14 is equally interesting. I’m not convinced however that these character descriptions are all that counter-cultural here. Some of them perhaps are, but not all of them, and in particular the one about not being a money-grubber was also a known negative criteria for pursuing the offices of the priesthood in pagan temples including the temple of Artemis. In one sense it is irrelevant that one can find examples of greedy priests, whether pagan... Read more

Here is the original form of the article I wrote for CT which appeared in their March 18th issue……. AND DEATH SHALL HAVE NO DOMINION— Mark 5.21-43 Ben Witherington, III There are all sorts of miracle stories in the Gospel of Mark—exorcisms (which are common in Mark and completely absent in John), nature miracles such as the feeding of the 5,000, healings of various sorts, and of course raising the dead. In Mark 5.21-43 we are presented with Jesus as... Read more