The Old Testament is a formidable beast. Maybe you're discouraged by the mind-numbing genealogies, dietary restrictions, temple blueprints, and obscure prophecies. Or, maybe you're turned off by the graphic violence and apparent endorsement of slavery and oppression against women. Or, you're tripped up because no one in the Old Testament seems concerned about the afterlife.…
The Talmud - a vast collection of ancient Jewish laws and traditions - said it's better to "burn the Torah [the first five books of the Bible] than it was to teach it to a woman." Saint Clement, considered to be the first Apostolic Father of the Church, said, "Every woman ought to be overcome with…
Continue reading ➞ Unveiled: Women, Misogyny, the Bible and Church
In April 2018, fashion magazine GQ posted an article titled "21 Books You Don't Have to Read" and listed the Bible in their number 12 spot. Obviously, "the editors of GQ" are not the gatekeepers of literary excellence (Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in…
In the narrative account of Jesus's life written by a physician named Luke, Jesus delivers the most famous story of roadside assistance ever recorded. According to the parable, a man is attacked by robbers and left for dead. His broken body is ignored by two religious men traveling the same road. He is eventually rescued and…
Continue reading ➞ We Are Not the Samaritan: A Jesus Story Deconstructed
Have you ever been embarrassed by something in the Bible? Or wished the Bible just left some stuff out? And I'm not talking about a hard teaching on money or a convicting verse about orphans and widows, but one of those passages that makes you pause and go, "Uh-oh." Like, you're chugging along on your…
Continue reading ➞ The Good Book, or How I Learned to Stop Defending and Love the Bible
Instrument of Mercy 