Inspiration Faith & Prayer Health & Wellness Entertainment Love & Family
Newsletters Special Offers

  By Matthew L. Skinner Here comes Black Friday, even earlier than usual. Bell-ringers are appearing outside stores. Advertisers are shifting the consumerism-as-therapy machine into high gear. And Christians say: This is a good time to think about the world falling apart. We’re not trying to be morose. We’re starting Advent. The season of Advent…

By Walter Brueggemann In Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24, Ezekiel ponders a) how his society has come to the disaster of destruction and deportation and, b) how to move forward beyond the disaster. He reflects on the kings in Jerusalem, past and future, and he does so under the metaphor of “shepherd.” The image of “shepherd” is…

By Walter Brueggemann This poem features extravagant language about a coming time of loss, disaster, distress, and suffering. It is commonly dated to the time before Jerusalem was destroyed by the invading Babylonian empire. While the daring poets whom we call “prophets” could discern the coming danger to the city, most of their contemporaries, ensconced…

By Walter Brueggemann This week’s text, Joshua 24: 1-3a, 14-25, features a great dramatic meeting as the culmination of arriving in the land of promise. The Bible thus far has traced the journey of Israel from slavery in Egypt through the wilderness (via Sinai) to the land of promise. The Book of Joshua, in violent…

By Walter Brueggemann Like other prophets before him, Jeremiah has spent ample shrill time and energy on the claim that Israel has systematically and long-term violated the covenant agreement of Mt. Sinai. They have violated the Ten Commandments of Sinai by economic policies that abused the poor, by foreign policy that depended on arms, by…

By Jaime Clark-Soles I was 17 years old. This was Philosophy 101. There stood Dr. Rob Brady, diminutive in stature, expansive in mind, with a Socratic gleam in his eye and devilish grin on his face. “Let’s imagine your wife is imprisoned in Nazi Germany. They will let her go free if she agrees to…

By Matthew L. Skinner It couldn’t hurt for Jesus to show up and weigh in on America’s current economic and political challenges. It might be helpful if he issued a declaration about who should pay taxes, and how much. Then again, this would likely get him killed all over again. Truth be told, Jesus wasn’t…

By Stephanie Buckhanon Crowder In a recent town hall meeting a former Google executive asked President Obama to raise his taxes. The attendee stated that he had done quite well at the company and has chosen not to work any more. Through his increased taxes, this individual wants the government to continue investing in Pell…

By Eric D. Barreto How many of the Ten Commandments can you name? If you are like most Americans, the number is far below the full ten. A 2007 survey reported that most Americans could rattle off the ingredients of a Big Mac more readily than the Ten Commandments. And yet the Ten Commandments play…

By Greg Carey Ezekiel speaks compellingly to the current situation in the United States.  But is the prophet’s message true? Precise Diagnosis The society the prophet addresses suffers from a severe lack of perspective.  It knows God’s standards.  These appear in the verses our Lectionary passes over, Ezekiel 18:5-24.  God condemns idolatry, sexual immorality, exploitative…
archives most recent
search this blog
More from Beliefnet and our partners
More from Beliefnet and our partners
Close Ad