Rereading the Biblical Text
My new book, Rereading the Biblical Text: Searching for Meaning and Understanding, became available on May 1st. Below is a description of the content of the book as it appears on the back cover of the...
View ArticleCain and His Offering
The biblical narrative of Cain and Abel is well known among students of the Bible and continues to captivate the imagination of those who seek to understand the issues related to the story of these two...
View ArticlePaul and the Muzzling of the Ox
“You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain” (Deut 25:4 NRSV). This Deuteronomic law was designed to help Israel acknowledge that life, even animal life, was precious to God and...
View ArticleWhat a Mess!
As some of you have noticed, my blog today looks different. For the past week or so, I have been facing a problem that can become a disaster, if it is not fixed correctly. Let me explain. In April of …...
View ArticleFeminine Imagery for God
Although the Old Testament portrays God with language that reflects male role models, such as a father (Mal 1:6), a king (Psalm 97:1), or a man of war (Exod 15:3), the biblical writers also used...
View ArticleThe Lost Faces of the Bible
Whenever archaeologists dig on a site in Israel, they will find many remains left behind by the people who lived thousands of years ago. Among the remains found in archaeological digs are human...
View ArticleLet the Bible Be the Bible: A Rejoinder
My friend and colleague Scot McKight wrote a post today, “Let the Bible be the Bible,” in his blog Jesus Creed in which he comments on my interpretation of Genesis 2:19. Scot wrote: Sometimes what we...
View ArticleMaternal Language for God in Deutero-Isaiah
The biblical writers believed that God was beyond human limitations, and yet they refer to him in words that denote both male and female roles. Although God transcends sexuality, male terminology...
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