How to read the Bible:
Alone in the dead of night, with only the owls for company;
Bravely, when the text takes a terrifying turn;
Curiously, open to giants, sea monsters, miracles, and talking snakes …
Last week, the Oxford-based Egypt Exploration Society published the most recent volume of their Oxyrhynchus Papyri series, making public a papyrus fragment of the Gospel of Mark dating from the late second or early third century AD, the earliest known fragment of that book.
… what makes the scriptures important is their role as the “canon” (measuring stick) of the Christian faith. They are our traditionally agreed-upon standard or benchmark. They tell us our story and teach us who to be in the world.
A lot of our differences as Christians can be boiled down to how we individually feel about the Bible, our approach to scripture. Earlier this week, Pastor John Pavlovitz, posted an essay on his blog Stuff That Needs to be Said, entitled 10 Things This Christian Doesn’t Believe About The Bible.
The notebook pages were scribbled somewhere between 1604 and 1608, the deadline year for six teams of collaborative translators tasked with translated the King James Bible, which was first published in 1611. The New York Times reports on the discovery and what it illuminates about the creation of the King James:
David Norton, an emeritus professor at the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand and the author of several books about the […]
No matter how much we arrange, we micro-manage, and we attempt to suit ourselves, the seed of the gospel still sprouts where it will, and the rich earth of faith we have been given will produce of itself.
Peeps are the marshmallow institutions of Easter. First made in 1953 by the Just Born company in Brooklyn, they’ve become, for better or for worse, a tradition at this time of year. According to the AARP (“11 Things You Didn’t Know About Peeps“), four out of five Peeps purchased are chicks, rather than bunnies, but they are produced at a rabbit-like rate: 2 billion Peeps per year, enough that they could circle the Earth three times, if they were put […]
On this day in 1872, we recognized that we all need time in the wilderness, to set ourselves apart. May Lent be such a time, a time not just of giving up some things, but more importantly a time to hallow and consecrate ourselves anew to God.
The Rev. Marek Zabriskie offers a plan for reading the entire Bible in one year:
Most Americans make a New Year’s resolution. The No. 1 resolution is to lose weight. No. 2 is to exercise more. But within three days, most Americans quit their resolution because they have no one to hold them accountable.
Why not make a more lasting resolution this year that will spiritually enhance you from within? Make a New Year’s resolution to read the Bible.
In 2011, I created […]
by Kathleen Staudt
A poetproph. She works as a teacher, poet, spiritual director and retreat leader in the Washington DC area and is the author of two books of poetry: “Annunciations, Poems out of Scripture” and “Waving Back:Poems of mothering life”, as well as a scholarly study of the modern artist and poet David Jones.
“MerryOldSanta” by Thomas Nast – Edited version of Image:1881 0101 tnast santa 200.jpg.. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia
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