By John Frye I like it when Mark, the gospel writer, plays with words. We find an example in today’s pericope regarding the demonized daughter of the Greek, Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:23-30). Let’s note the context. Jesus had unflinchingly redefined what creates clean and unclean (Mark 7:1-23). With great courage, Jesus rewrote the script about what truly defiles human beings. Jesus moved from externals to the internal—the heart (Mark 7:21). Meticulous cleanliness rituals foisted upon the people (and in particular... Read more

Kingdom Without King, Kingdom Without Church: Manipulating Jesus to Serve Our Agendas, by Allan Bevere It’s been a problem almost since the inception of Christianity– the rejection of Jesus’ agenda for us and the twisting of Jesus’ message and ministry so that he might conform to our easier more palatable way of life. Atheist Richard Dawkins once stated that as intelligent as Jesus was, if he were here today, knowing what we human beings now know in the 21st century,... Read more

Kris Beckert has an important reminder of the church’s responsibility about singleness: But what if there is another voice to be heard – in what sometimes feels like a wilderness of singleness? Scripture and early church history bear witness to a story that bucks both culture and religious culture. It’s a story that bases a person’s value not on status, family, gender, or background but on relationship – bearing the image of and capacity for relationship with his/her creator, through... Read more

I started a series on Biblical womanhood last Thursday with a look at women of the Old Testament. Not commands and laws, but stories about people, what they did and how they did it. It is quite an amazing variety.  Today we will look at women of the New Testament. Like the ancient Near East and ancient Israel, first century Galilee, Judea, and the Greek and Roman world were patriarchal cultures. This culture is reflected in the narrative. Still, in... Read more

Matthew MacWilliams: If I asked you what most defines Donald Trump supporters, what would you say? They’re white? They’re poor? They’re uneducated? You’d be wrong. In fact, I’ve found a single statistically significant variable predicts whether a voter supports Trump—and it’s not race, income or education levels: It’s authoritarianism. That’s right, Trump’s electoral strength—and his staying power—have been buoyed, above all, by Americans with authoritarian inclinations. And because of the prevalence of authoritarians in the American electorate, among Democrats as... Read more

NPR: Last September, Miguel Ángel Galán was busy in his office south of Madrid when he happened to glance up at a TV on in the background. He was shocked by what he saw: footage of a Hungarian TV camerawoman kicking migrants and refugees as they scrambled across a field on the Serbia-Hungary border. A Syrian man, carrying his child in his arms, tripped and fell to the ground. “It made me so angry! I felt such repugnance for that journalist, and... Read more

By Jovan Barrington Jovan is the Senior Minister at the Littleton Church of Christ in Denver, CO.@JovanBarrington I got dumped. I tried to think of other ways to begin this article but I feel too much like Taylor Swift. Breakups are good material for writing articles and writing songs. I received a call from a friend recently sharing some interesting bits from a conversation he recently had with someone whom I have not met. In part of the conversation it... Read more

CNN: (CNN)It’s an axiom in American politics, duly repeated every four years: Evangelicals are the country’s biggest and most powerful religious voting bloc, especially during the GOP primaries. Like many political axioms, though, it papers over a complex reality. Yes, evangelicals represent a large slice of the electorate, especially in states that vote early in the campaign calendar. In 2012, 57% of people who participated in the Iowa presidential caucusesidentified as “born again” or evangelical. This year, evangelicals are again predicted to... Read more