Every once in a while people disagree with me. I know. Shocking. What kind of a sick, twisted world do we live in, anyway? I hear the following from time to time, and so might you: “Instead of following the Bible, you’re just caving into culture.” I often hear this, for example, when evolution is […]
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If You Want Your Faith to Survive, It Had Better Adapt
The title of this post might not win me many friends, but that’s OK since I don’t actually have any actual friends. Plus, I’m right. Christians talk about how God is—unlike us—constant and doesn’t change. And I think this is a wonderful thought that I don’t have any serious quibbles about (though some theologians do, […]
“I Wonder What God Thinks of the Bible.” A Play in One Act.
Actors: One or more Jewish scribes living during the Babylonian Exile or sometime thereafter. God Jewish scribe(s): Oh Lord, we’ve had it pretty rough lately, what with the exile and all. We thought it would be a great idea if we had super clear instructions on what you want from us so we can avoid […]
10 Books that Made Me Rethink the Bible, and So Can You
This is not my 10 “best” books list, nor am I suggesting these are “must reads” for everyone (though they are all great books), but they may help you rethink the Bible. These are books that crossed my path 20-25 years ago, mainly while in graduate school, that influenced my thinking in new and heretofore largely unexplored directions, and so […]
“How Can I Trust the Bible?” (You Might Be Asking)
“You’re sort of presenting a new paradigm for thinking about the Bible a new way a new path forward. And I sort of get it. And it explains some things. But here’s the problem that I have. How can I trust the Bible?” And I think that’s a great question to ask, as it actually […]
Jesus Comes in Third
This is a guest post from Eric A. Seibert, adapted from Disarming the Church: Why Christians Must Forsake Violence to Follow Jesus and Change the World (Eugene, OR: Cascade 2018) In 1978, Michael Hart published an intriguing book titled The 100 in which he ranks the one hundred most influential people in history from his […]
The Path of Wisdom: The Bible Actually Invites Us on a Quest
If we take Scripture seriously, we will find our expectations challenged & come to see that the Bible invites us to join an ancient sacred quest to follow the path of Wisdom.
King David, Time Travel, and Whoa, What the Heck is Going on Here!?
It was more important to these ancient editors who produced the Old Testament to preserve conflicting traditions and put them together somehow, even if awkwardly, than to eliminate them for the sake of achieving logical coherence.
There are No Contradictions in the Bible (Yeah, You Heard Me)
1. If I say, “I hate oatmeal” and then turn to someone else and say “I love oatmeal,” I am contradicting myself. 2. If I said 20 years ago “I hate oatmeal” and now say “I love oatmeal,” I am not contradicting myself. Rather my view of oatmeal changed over time. 3. If I say […]
Can We Cool It with Whole Marcionite Accusation Thing? Thanks.
To say that there are two Gods, one of the Old Testament and one of the New, is Marcionism. To say that the one God is portrayed in various—even conflicting—ways is simply a matter of reading the Bible in English.