Sea Change

Scripture begins by telling an old story and ends by retelling the old story with a new and final outcome. Both narratives involve chaos and creation.

Surface Readings

Impending doom has been in the news during my entire lifetime.

What’s Your Relationship with Wisdom?

James, steeped in Jewish wisdom-traditions, knows that wisdom belongs to the very nature of God himself. He knows that wisdom comes to man only as a divine gift. He writes telling readers to ask for the divine gift of wisdom by faith.

Image Bearers in the Age of Images

It would be quite easy to glide into a religious pluralism and end up worshipping the vaunted images of the world – “Great is Ephesian Artemis!” – and not the reality of the Son of God. One would thus end up having a form of godliness but denying its power. Neither John the Elder nor I want anything to do with such people.

What’s Up with God?

“What’s up with God?” This question has been posed in various forms throughout history, often in the context of the problem of evil.

Claim We Can Believe In

Have you tried out claims that promise a change for the better and then found that they fall short of their ballyhooed benefits? Have you tried, say, using tooth whitening strips and gels and find that your teeth didn’t whiten as advertised? Did you lose the weight promised through a much-hyped weight reduction program? Has…

The Eyes Have It

At the cross. At the burial. At the empty tomb. Three wait-and-see days. Three women. The gospel according to Mark begins with the ushering in of “the good news of Jesus the Messiah, God’s son” (Mk. 1:1). Composed of short narratives that could be easily visualized by those who heard its reading, Mark’s terse and…

Astonished and Afraid and the Hand of God

There are many who say, “O that we might see some good! Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!” Psalm 4: 6 The day came when Jesus arrived at a synagogue in Capernaum with a small group of swarthy fishermen. The leader of the synagogue asked the newcomer to speak to the gathered.…