https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSoFbndq0xs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-gzIbEQxQk Starting on Easter Sunday night, tomorrow night, and for twelve Sunday nights thereafter, the story of the early church will be told in considerable detail, beginning with the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection and then working through early Christian history. The first series climaxes on Father’s Day and it is intimated that if this series does well, there will be more next year. Unlike the scope of ‘The Bible’ films done for the History Channel, this series... Read more

On Good Friday the skies wept, They just opened up and torrential rains came down. Flooding the creeks, the brooks, the streams. The rivulets became rivers, the rivers became swollen, The lands disappeared, surrendered their hold to the rivers. The ground under our feet, which once we took as forever firm and reliable and a place to stand, washed away. The odd thing was we were washed clean, while the dirt, the sod was washed away, as if God’s tears... Read more

Those folks at www.elsewhere.org must not have much to do. So they’ve invented a program that will randomly pick words to generate an essay that sounds somewhat coherent. No kidding! Try out for example www.elsewhere.org/pomo,…. or the essay below. Sadly, I’ve read less coherent essays than the follows at the schools where I’ve taught…. 1. Expressions of rubicon If one examines expressionism, one is faced with a choice: either reject textual sublimation or conclude that language serves to exploit minorities.... Read more

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In 1981, on ABC there was a multi-part mini-series entitled Masada, starring the magnificent Peter O’Toole and Peter Strauss. It was nominated for 13 Emmy Awards and won several. It was also filmed on location at Masada. When I made my first true trip to Israel in 1985, I went to Masada, and the remnants of the seige engines built for the filming were still there below the giant butte overlooking the Dead Sea. The story called ‘Masada’ without question... Read more

“The fool says in his heart, there is no god……”. Whether we are aware of it or not ‘the fool’, like ‘the sluggard’ or ‘the sage/wise man’ are stock characters in early Jewish wisdom literature. They occur for instance in Proverbs, sometimes in personified form (see Prov. 9– Lady Folly), but more often just as a type of person, and some would say a stereotype. It occurred to me that it might be well to rehearse what the Bible says... Read more

ON THE UNBEARABLE BRIGHTENESS OF LIGHT Sunrise thru stained glass To see it thru the filter, I can’t stare straight at the sun But thru the window I have won A glimpse of all God’s glory. Patterns in the glass Suggest an ordered world As if the beauty so aloof Requires a filter as the proof That we can’t bear the vision. Truth needs a mediator For all things transcendent Lest human mind Be left behind In quest to find... Read more

In an age of fear-based thinking, and trust me, since 9/11 America has been binging on fear-based thinking (which in part explains the dramatic rise, one could say explosion, in gun sales since then) sometimes people have even forgotten what faith looks like. In an age of fear, the lust for something concrete, something secure, some kind of absolute certainty about something is palpable. And this whole fear-based environment has effected, or better said, infected the church. People don’t want... Read more

Obviously, one of the three or four most prolific Biblical scholars in the last half century is N. T. Wright. You see him above in Bishop Auckland Palace working on another book, a picture I took when I was visiting with him. The running joke about Tom (which has also been told about me) is that someone calls and asks the secretary for Tom. She replies he is busy writing a book. The caller says, “Well then, I’ll hold”. One... Read more

Apologies for a few four letter words from one of the panelists. BW3 Read more