By Sara Barton, chaplain at Pepperdine University and author A Woman Called. For several years, I’ve been convicted that Christians should take sabbath practice seriously. This is no clear-cut transferal of the Old Testament commands about sabbath to Christian practice today.  Sabbath is deeper and wider in the biblical narrative than a simple commandment.  Sabbath is an invitation from God, to mark human creativity with the punctuation mark of rest, the way God rested after Creation. While we see rest as... Read more

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A guest post by Michael W. Pahl—revised slightly since first posted Last week Scot McKnight graciously agreed to host an article I wrote on his blog, “The Polarization of ‘Biblical Christianity.’” I’m grateful to Scot again for hosting this follow-up post. The gist of my previous article is this: along the wide spectrum of Christians who take seriously the authority of Scripture, we are seeing extreme pressure to move toward one or the other of two distinguishable poles, one pole... Read more

Source: Mark Greene, The Good Men Project Who can describe the kinds of friends males have? Do you see this in high school, college … where do you see the patterns begin? In the absence of emotional authenticity, American men become homogeneous in their expression of self. This encourages their location, willingly or otherwise, in what many writers have come to call the Man Box. The Man Box is a set of rigid expectations that define what a “real man”... Read more

Post by Allan Bevere: I have not seen the new movie, “Noah,” and I probably won’t, for no other reason than it just doesn’t look interesting to me. But many have and commented on whether or not it’s a good movie to see. One of the concerns for many Christians is how true it is or is not to the biblical tale in Genesis. I am never quite sure what to do with this concern. I certainly think it’s possible to... Read more

Source: Stephen Colbert is known for his over-the-top conservative pundit persona on his Comedy Central show, but he’s also a devout Catholic who regularly speaks about his faith. And considering that “The Colbert Report” host will soon be stepping into an entirely new role when he replaces David Letterman on “The Late Show” next year, some are wondering how his religious views could possibly impact his new gig. After all, Colbert has never minced words when it comes to his faith. In a 2012... Read more

Jon Klawans contends (as do I in Jesus and His Death) that the last supper was a meal during Passover week but not the Passover meal itself, and for me the decisive element is the absence of lamb. What then of Jeremias’s long list of parallels? It turns out that under greater scrutiny the parallels are too general to be decisive. That Jesus ate a meal in Jerusalem, at night, with his disciples is not so surprising. It is also no... Read more