Tag: <span>bible</span>

Summary: The Bible is full of teachings that are working with, it seems to most of us, very outdated and even harmful views on gender. Some take these teachings as if they were permanent, universal laws. Rather, these biblical passages usually reflect the conventional wisdom or social mores of their day, which suggests we need to put them in conversation with other biblical texts and with other sources of knowledge. I briefly explore 1 Timothy 2:8-14 as a test case.

Read the full article on The Huffington Post.

Bible commentary: general audience Christianity and culture

Summary: Familiar biblical texts, especially those that appear each year in a lectionary, often pose challenges for preachers. How might our sermons encourage people to explore new dimensions of these well known passages?

This video was prepared for those who preach or teach. Watch it at Working Preacher.

Videos on preaching

Summary: Online resources for exploring sacred texts do more than help us see what religious groups believe. They help us understand how people believe, and how they live out their religious commitments.

I wrote this post for the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions. Read it on The Parliament Blog.

ON Scripture--The Bible The Bible and new media

Summary: Now that new technology brings so much information to people, it’s time to ask more from scholars who serve the church. We help people evaluate the flood of information, and we need to make the conversations about that information more vibrant and even urgent.

Read this post on the blog of the New Media Project at Union Theological Seminary.

The Bible and new media

Summary: Online biblical commentary can and should be different from the biblical commentary that accompanied printed Bibles. This post describes the potential of the ON Scripture project to help people make connections between the Bible and their lived experiences.

Read this post on the blog of the New Media Project at Union Theological Seminary.

ON Scripture--The Bible The Bible and new media

Summary: In this video, Peter Wallace, host of Day1, interviews me about the Bible, preaching, and the creativity involved in bringing people into a meaningful engagement with scripture.

Watch this video at Day 1.

Videos on preaching

Summary: When unemployment statistics spike or even remain disconcertingly high for a prolonged period, it’s for many reasons a cause for alarm. What kinds of spiritual wounds can unemployment inflict? The Bible indicates that human work is a way in which we encounter and partner with God. Our various labors can connect us to God’s purposes. Christian communities need to tend to the spiritual losses of unemployment, along with the economic and psychological tolls it takes.

Read the full article on The Huffington Post.

Christianity and culture

Summary: It’s important to know something about what was going on in the world when the Bible was written. In this article I briefly introduce three big events or social phenomena that were shaping people’s religious understandings when the New Testament was being written. The Bible itself shows us people of faith articulating how their beliefs speak to their concerns and everyday lives.

Read the full article on The Huffington Post.

Christianity and culture

Summary: Children’s sermons are tougher than they look. How can preachers do a better job of using these to speak authentically to the young people in their congregations?

This video was prepared for those who preach or teach. Watch it at Working Preacher.

Videos on preaching

Summary: The structure of a sermon matters for how people understand it. Here I suggest ways for preachers to vary the organization of their sermons, not just to keep things fresh, but to embody the movement and rhetoric of a biblical text.

This video was prepared for those who preach or teach. Watch it at Working Preacher.

Videos on preaching