If a tree falls by an axe, the stump will, given enough time, grow back. Human beings who fall violently have no such hope–we never rise again.  With that image,…

Do not think any man happy until he has died, free from suffering.  That line, or something like it depending on the translator, ends the grand tragedy Oedipus Tyrannous, Oedipus…

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…

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,…

 If you don’t spend much time around Biblical-studies people, the neologism “parallelomania” might be a new one on you, so let me explain: for different reasons, some writers in Biblical…

Listen here Marie Hause, Victoria Reynolds Farmer, and Alexis Neal discuss the healing of the woman in the crowd in Mark 5. Knowing Our experiences with this story Description of…

What’s on the table when we claim that a newly-discovered text came from a Biblical author?  To answer that question might take an investigation that spans the Roman Empire, desert…

Walter Brueggemann did not only teach me to read the Bible: he taught me to read.  In the twenty-two years since I first read A Theology of the Old Testament…

 I’ve had a working hypothesis for quite a while now that stories about the devil tell us about as much about an author’s priorities as anything else.  Milton’s devils and…

Listen here Marie Hause, Katie Grubbs, and Christina Bieber Lake take on biblical bad girl Queen Athaliah. Knowing Background on Queen Athaliah Summary of the context and content of 2…

There’s a lot of poetry in the Bible. Anyone who flips through its pages can see how many have that telltale jagged edge of printed verse. But it’s not only…