O Me of Little Faith

We’re summarizing the most popular biblical translations, as listed in my most recent book, Pocket Guide to the Bible. Previously, we looked at the King James Version and the Revised Standard Version. Today’s subject is…The Jerusalem Bible (RSV) First published in: 1966, by Darton Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday Translation style: Dynamic Equivalence Quick…

We’re sprinting through Chapter 7 of Pocket Guide to the Bible, which details the most popular biblical translations. Previously, we covered the familiar and intimidating KJV. Today’s subject is the Revised Standard Version.The Revised Standard Version (RSV) First published in: 1952, by Thomas Nelson & SonsTranslation style: Formal Equivalence Quick description: The first serious challenger…

What Christianity really needs, I’ve been thinking, is a version of the Bible that’s way more manga than your typical no-pictures, text-only Bible translations. Sure, our Bibles occasionally have illustrations, but it’s of the passive, gauzy, Jesus-holding-a-near-comatose-lamb variety. And Jesus always has pretty blow-dried hair. Where is the violence? Where’s the smiting? Where’s all the…

I’m not quite ready to begin talking about my next Pocket Guide, so let’s take this opportunity to introduce you to some previous versions. First up: Pocket Guide to the Bible. One of my favorite chapters is Chapter 7 — “Versions and Perversions: A Selective Survey of Translations.” It details the most popular biblical translations,…

So a fellow Texan got kicked off her bus for reading the Bible to her children last Saturday on the way to church (she was Seventh-Day Adventist, and they go to church on Saturdays, because that’s how Jesus did it). However, before anyone started yelling Free Speech! or Religious Persecution! or Donna Martin graduates!, Fort…

I don’t ever make New Year’s resolutions, mostly for the same reason I don’t make cookies: because I doubt I’ll be satisfied with them. It’s good to set goals, of course, and occasionally I’ll accomplish them (that’s how I got into swimming in 2006, because I challenged myself to swim 50 miles, cumulatively, during that…

One of my favorite parts of the Christmas season — and, really, any holiday season — is the Ping-Pong-playing that commences when my maternal grandparents come to visit. I’m blessed to still have my original four grandparents around, all in relatively good health. The sprightliest of them is John E. Brown, my mom’s dad, whom…

Just in time for Christmas Eve…I’m a few weeks late to the story, but it seems a 37-year-old artist and his friends practiced some civil disobedience by moving into a mall in Providence, Rhode Island, and actually living there for several weeks at a time. They started the experiment in 2004, finding an empty 750…

I have a new article up at TrueU.org, the online mag for college students. It’s called “My Favorite Christmas Story,” about how the parable of the prodigal son is the story I think of most during the season of Advent. Even better, the article gives shout-outs to the Charlie Brown Christmas special, the Rankin-Bass “Rudolph”…

Spent some quality time the other day watching “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” I remembered why it has always been my favorite televised Christmas special. 1. The Hand-Waving: The climax of the episode has to do with Charlie Brown’s little stick of a Christmas tree. Already despairing because Snoopy has won a prize for doghouse decoration…

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