Literary phrases for the beginning of a new academic year abound, such as Dickens’ “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” or Shakespeare’s “Once more unto the breach, dear friends.” But this year I’m thinking of a memorable scene from a television miniseries more than four decades ago. In the last few minutes of Franco Zefferelli’s Jesus of Nazareth, Zerah pokes his head into the tomb where he observed the dead Jesus of Nazareth being... Read more
I consider myself to be well informed and well read, but every once in a while I read or hear something so new that I have to say, “I’ve never thought about that before!’ followed quickly by “This is really important. Why haven’t I ever thought about this before?” I’ve had this experience more than once this summer. One of my favorite podcasts over the past few months has been “The Bible for Normal People” with Pete Enns and Jared... Read more
This week marks the tenth anniversary of this blog–hard to believe! It has been on Patheos for a bit over five years. When I first started this project, it was clear that only my immediate family and maybe a dozen friends and colleagues were reading it–now thousands of readers visit and comment every month. To make this auspicious anniversary, this week I am posting the two most popular posts in terms of site visits in the last ten years. Coming... Read more
This week marks the tenth anniversary of this blog–hard to believe! It has been on Patheos for a bit over five years. When I first started this project, it was clear that only my immediate family and maybe a dozen friends and colleagues were reading it–now thousands of readers visit and comment every month. To mark this auspicious anniversary, I am posting the two most popular posts in terms of site visits in the last ten years. Coming in at... Read more
One of the habits that having a puppy in the house for the past ten months has established is a one mile walk as soon as she gets me up (around 6:00, usually). As Bovina and I take various loops through the neighborhood, I listen to podcasts. My “favorites” include Fresh Air Hell and High Water Hidden Brain The Bible for Normal People Everything Happens Evolving Faith and many more. One morning this week I listened to the latest episode... Read more
For many, the raising of Lazarus is Jesus’ signature miracle, even though it is only mentioned in one of the four gospels. A brief mention of the miracle in a book I am currently reading made me nostalgic for the epic Bible movies of my youth. During my childhood, we did not go to movies—that was something, along with a bunch of other things, that good Baptists didn’t do. But we did watch television—except on Sundays. So, my brother and... Read more
From as early as I can remember, I had an invisible butler. My mother enjoyed laying my clothes out for the next day when I went to bed, but every once in a while it was clear that someone else was stepping in to take care of my sartorial needs. I would wake up with unmatched socks laid out, or two shirts but nothing for the waist down, or no underwear, or shoes but no socks. Not wanting to insult... Read more
Although I occasionally find myself immersed in things medieval with a bunch of freshmen in the spring semester, I am not a medievalist. I must confess that I often find medieval literature, philosophy, theology, and just about everything else medieval largely boring, inscrutable, or both. Still, it’s hard to go wrong in the classroom studying Dante’s Inferno with eighteen-year-olds. Sin, violence, torture—what could be better? Is suicide worse than lying? Is adultery less problematic than treason? How do gluttony and simony... Read more
Jeanne asked me a question about my blog the other day that, after I stopped being defensive, got me to thinking carefully about what I actually believe concerning Jesus. I’ll save the specific question and my reaction for a later essay. Her question came on the same day that I had been trying to explain what “Freelance Christianity” is and how it might differ from traditional, mainline Christianity to a questioner on Facebook. My sense was that his question was... Read more
I was saddened to hear that David McCullough, one of the great historians of his generation, passed away Sunday at age 89. MuCullough was a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner [for Truman (1992) and John Adams (2001)]; the wonderful HBO miniseries John Adams, starring Paul Giamatti in the title role and Laura Linney as Abigail Adams, was based on McCullough’s book. Among his many other claims to fame was being the narrator for Ken Burns’ iconic PBS documentary The Civil War in... Read more
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