The Bible’s second book, Exodus, tells about Israel’s beginning as a people. Is this a made-up story or real history or something between? What can we say, or guess, from non-biblical sources about Israel’s beginning? How did people in a collapsing civilization around the end of the Bronze Age find a way to go on? This is Episode 10, Part 2 of the Rowingwith Michael Series: A journey through the Jewish/Christian Scriptures in Verse and Commentary. (See Part 1 here.) Introduction... Read more
How did the nation of Israel begin? Can we trust the Bible to tell us how it really happened? Was there an Exodus from Egypt? Did Moses exist? Did a million slaves wander for 40 years in the desert? Does it matter for Christians and Jews? This post and the next will dig into these controversial historical questions. Episode 10-1 of the Rowing with Michael Series: A journey through the Jewish/Christian Scriptures in Verse and Commentary. Introduction and Contents for this... Read more
In the Catholic Church we don’t re-Baptize, but we regularly renew our baptismal promises. In the Catholic Church we always baptize individuals not groups or collectivities. But sometimes our attention is drawn to a whole world of ills, to vast territories of horror. In this post I am imagining help for the world coming somehow from the sacrament of Baptism and specifically from a renewal of our baptismal promises. We renew our baptismal promises every time another person is baptized... Read more
The Joseph saga in the last third of Genesis tells us something about how God works. It’s not the way we’d expect. God accomplishes great things with flawed human material, even through the flaws themselves. Instead of the tragic flaw of Greek plays, the Bible gives us the “happy fault.” Episode 9 of the Rowing with Michael Series: A journey through the Jewish/Christian Scriptures in Verse and Commentary. Introduction and Contents for this series HERE. Michael, row the boat ashore. Alleluia….... Read more
Israelites may once have practiced human sacrifice, but that changed. This post looks for hints of that change in the story of Abraham and Isaac and asks some questions about any sacrificing to God. Episode 8 of the Rowing with Michael Series: A journey through the Jewish/Christian Scriptures in Verse and Commentary. Introduction and Contents for this series HERE. Michael, row the boat ashore. Alleluia…. Abe heard voices from the sky. Alleluia. Said young Isaac had to die. Alleluia. When they... Read more
The movement called “Sex positive” is part positive, part not, part gain and part loss. Positively, it pushes against historic and still operating patriarchy, intolerance, and prudery. Negatively, it operates from the same hyper-individualism that inflicts modern Western societies. This post imagines recovering what is lost in of modern sexual mores. There was a toy sword and all seven grandchildren in one house. Two of the children were in conflict. One was the owner of the sword. The other was... Read more
Is Abraham an imaginary figure or a historical person? If historical, what does a Catholic make of the fantastic stories the Bible tells about him. What can the rest of the world make of the god of Abraham? Episode 7 of the Rowing with Michael Series: A journey through the Jewish/Christian Scriptures in Verse and Commentary. Introduction and Contents for this series HERE. Michael, row the boat ashore. Alleluia…. Abraham was as good as dead. Alleluia. Still he believed what... Read more
The Tower of Babel was meant to reach the sky. This post explains what a scary prospect that is and draws parallels with some of our frightening technological possibilities today. Episode 6 of the Rowing with Michael Series: A journey through the Jewish/Christian Scriptures in Verse and Commentary. Introduction and Contents for this series HERE. Michael, row the boat ashore. Alleluia…. The Tower of Babel was rising high. Alleluia. People bragged they would reach the sky. Alleluia. All at once the Lord came down,... Read more
My last post was about rising seas (Noah and the Flood). The next one will be about technology’s dangers (the Tower of Babel). Both of them put me in mind of the theme for today’s break from the “Rowing through the Old Testament” series. Climate change is real, caused by human activity, and a serious threat. That’s the majority opinion in the world today. Many conservatives, including religious conservatives, don’t but it. This post explores my puzzlement about the connection... Read more
The story of Noah and the Flood is a literary genre that we might call “scary story.” Hebrews adapted it from the Babylonian culture, where it was much scarier. The Bible’s story helps us imagine that our whole world is as precious as if it had been saved from a flood. Episode 5 of the Rowing with Michael Series: A journey through the Jewish/Christian Scriptures in Verse and Commentary. Introduction and Contents for this series HERE. Michael, row the boat ashore.... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In