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Hip, Chest, or Ankle?
I found this after being “inspired” by a bumper sticker saying, “Keep your hands off my Bible, Guns, and Values.” This does raise a significant theological question: Where does Jesus keeps his holster?
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RIP Johnny Storm–At Least You Can’t Burn in Hell
“Let’s do it for Johnny, man!” Normally, I despise killing in comic books (and not because I’m a Mennonite). I despise them because those who are killed, if they remain remotely marketable, are always...
View ArticleThe (Parenthetical) Sayings Of Jesus
Twelve sayings of Jesus that, based on our practices, obviously must have included parenthetical remarks in the original text. 1. You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate...
View ArticleOn Being “Out-Christianed” By Bill Maher (“It’s not even hard work.”)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAvDtPz33w0] It’s really no surprise that an atheist like Maher interprets Jesus more faithfully than the average North American Christian, but still . . . it’s...
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Not-So-Sweet Home Alabama (Martians, beware!)
Incredible. Alabama has now trumped Arizona in terms of bigotry toward the stranger. I didn’t think such a thing was possible. All of the fine upstanding moral Christians responsible must be proud . ....
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Prayer in School, Not Closets! (Jesus, you’ve been trumped again)
Ah yes, everything was so perfect back then. Women knew their place, blacks couldn’t attend schools, share bathrooms or eat with whites, it was kosher to be anti-Semitic, and after centuries of...
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Jesus Most Certainly Did Not Die For Ewoks or Gungans! (Only for Wookiees,...
I was recently fortunate enough to be interviewed by the ever so interesting folks down at The Christian Post. This makes two interviews with them in the last few weeks. Yeah, I know . . . I wouldn’t...
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Jesus and Justin Sitting in a Tree (or, ‘on’ a tree . . . oooh.)
In case you were concerned that your favorite pop rock stars were not holy enough, Justin Bieber has saved the day. He is now sporting two tattoos of his main man, Jesus. That’s right, Bieber’s true...
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Jesus is Risen! (Gotta Work on My Tan)
Living at the beach, which, by the way, I highly recommend, is a bit much when it comes to the holidays. In terms of this nation-state’s liturgical holy days (Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day) I...
View ArticleThe Adventures of Dean, Andy, and Jesus (as they pass through Hell)
If I had to take a guess as to the three most important, most beloved, most adored male figures in the history of my beloved home state of North Carolina, I would venture to guess that it would be...
View ArticleThe Introduction: A Meditation on Matthew 3:1–12
In this Meditation on Matthew 3:1–12, Will Willimon reminds us that we are not right, that our worlds are out of kilter, and that Jesus presents us with the most difficult, demanding bad news that ever...
View ArticleMeasured Hope: A Meditation on the Third Week of Advent
In this Advent reflection, Tom Ryan wonders whether we really want what Advent prepares us for.
View ArticleA Life In The Same Direction: A Review of Eugene Peterson’s The Pastor
Pastoral memoirs are not a genre in great demand. They don’t tend to make it to the New York Times Best Sellers list. After all, the pastoral vocation, some say, has fallen on hard times and Christian...
View ArticleEvil Is What Humans Do: An Interview with Christian Wiman
Allison Backous interviews the poet Christian Wiman about his work, his attention to lament and evil, and his perspective concerning the role of spirituality in contemporary American poetry.
View ArticleRecovering the Gospel Behind the Creeds? A Review of How God Became King
In his most recent book, N. T. Wright captures the integration of politics and theology in the Gospels, but his framing of the argument proves problematic on the question of Christianity’s creedal...
View ArticleDesk, with Window Frame and Heaven
Marci Rae Johnson, in “Desk, with Window Frame and Heaven,” offers a sketch of a private room, an unopened window, a sad Jesus on a simple crucifix, and the billowing of both clouds and desire to open...
View ArticleTelling My Beads
Rebecca Lynne Fullan, in “Telling My Beads,” weighs her reasons for wearing a rosary for inspiration, Christ’s “tiny twist . . . of body in metal” a strange weight on both body and soul.
View ArticleOn The (Gritty) Birth of Christ
This essay argues against sentimentalized images of the nativity for a more realistic rendering of the birth of Jesus.
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