“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”  Growing up under that Constitutional law, even as an amendment, gave me the idea…

When I got serious about Christian discipleship in the early nineties, Christian worldview was in the air.  The menace of secular humanism loomed large, and when I enrolled at Milligan…

In 1917 four seismic shocks rocked the human species: in Russia, the Bolshevik Revolution brought a specter from Europe into the center of the world’s most expansive land empire.  …

With the obvious exception of Plato’s Phaedrus, really old books don’t spend much time on technology.  Perhaps the tools didn’t change fast enough.  Perhaps their writing materials were expensive enough…

Liberty has always carried tricky questions with it.   Most folks in 2025 would agree that human beings should have liberty, but how one becomes free persists as a debate. …

My own tradition within the Church was an early adopter of the motto “No creed but Christ.” For what intentions are worth, my forerunners seem to have had good ones:…

Among education writers, the phrase “critical thinking” can run from nebulous notions to utter ciphers. Few will disagree that critical thinking is good and needed, but relatively few will agree…

When I was a novice in Biblical Studies Hans Frei’s book The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative invited me to consider not only the world that gave us the Bible but…

2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27 and Psalm 130  • Wisdom of Solomon 1:13-15, 2:23-24 or Lamentations 3:22-33 and Psalm 30  • 2 Corinthians 8:7-15  • Mark 5:21-43 I wonder how long people knew what The Song of the Bow sounded like. Did they…

1 Samuel 17:(1a, 4-11, 19-23), 32-49 and Psalm 9:9-20 or 1 Samuel 17:57-18:5, 18:10-16 and Psalm 133  •  Job 38:1-11 and Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32  • 2 Corinthians 6:1-13  • Mark 4:35-41 I was seventeen years old when I first attempted to read Homer’s…

1 Samuel 15:34 – 16:13 and Psalm 20  • Ezekiel 17:22-24 and Psalm 92:1-4, 12-15  • 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, (11-13), 14-17  • Mark 4:26-34 I like that this week’s 1 Samuel reading begins where it does, with Saul already, as…

Slogans have always occupied our public attention, and the ways that an enemy redefines a slogan can be as important as the phrase’s original connotation.  We can learn a fair…

1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15) and Psalm 138  • Genesis 3:8-15 and Psalm 130  • 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1  • Mark 3:20-35 1 Samuel 8 is one of those passages (there are several) that brings to my attention, every time…

1 Samuel 3:1-10, (11-20) and Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18  • Deuteronomy 5:12-15 and Psalm 81:1-10  • 2 Corinthians 4:5-12  • Mark 2:23-3:6 The first thing that draws my attention in 1 Samuel 3 is the brief, passing comment that opens up…

Isaiah 6:1-8 and Psalm 29  • Romans 8:12-17  • John 3:1-17 I’ve been taught, in very clear terms, not to read Isaiah 6 as a passage about the Trinity. I’ve been taught, in very clear terms,…