Bites of the Best Books: March 2021
This month, passages about the most potent moral figure in Western culture, the influences on Augustine,
and the enduring wisdom of the prophet Jeremiah.
Bible
The Witness of Women
The Jewish holiday of Purim which is celebrated today, honors Queen Esther, who risked the wrath of her Persian husband-king to save her people. This essay is a tribute to women who have risked much to witness both anciently and in our day.
Building Israel: The First Few Millennia Are Always Hardest
An institutional lens is useful for thinking about Israel as the unfolding “Kingdom of God,” since it is a durable, multifaceted social structure that has been important for thousands of years.
More Thoughts on the Capitol Breach
The forces of contention may have just escalated to a new and even more feverish pitch as a result of the election disputes and the breach of the Capitol building in Washington.
Bites of the Best Books: January 2021
This month, passages on rebirth, the pursuit of utopia, why we are commanded to honor parents, the importance of welcoming a God who can contradict us, and the need to embrace interfaith solidarity.
Linus, we need you
To the extent there is a war on Christmas our best approach is to simply live an authentic Christian life out loud.
Christmas Joy & Mourning
At Christmas we often focus on the joy of Christ, but just as important is the way that Christ embraces our sorrows and heals our wounds.
The Steep Price of Hypocrisy in Christian Witness
The battle with sin is our shared inheritance. Nobody is immune to a fall from grace. We must pray that our Father “suffer us not to be led into temptation” and then live to make that a reality.
Teaching Yourself to Read (Again)
Lots of people read lots of things these days. But it’s a very different kind of reading than before. Here’s why that should worry us.
Remembering the Bible
If we write off the Bible as irrelevant, we lose its proposals on meaning, purpose and self-worth. Other widely embraced answers, however, are despairing.
Trauma in The Family of Abraham
The story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac teaches obedience, but believers can benefit from wrestling with this text, as Jews have done for centuries.
Creating Jesus in Our Image
In the perennial debate about the carpenter from Nazareth, it’s worth asking: Are we seeking after who Jesus is revealed to be—or who we personally wish Him to be?
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