The most important American Old Testament scholar of the last century is Norman Gottwald
In the life of early Israel, Gottwald found a God of economic justice.
Reparations would help close the staggering racial wealth gap
William Darity and Kirsten Mullen make the case for finally addressing a great wrong.
In the beginning, God created difference
Theodore Hiebert’s deft reading elicits a fresh awareness of the legitimacy of the other in Genesis.
Walter Rauschenbusch then and now
William Pitts examines the era when the Social Gospel was new—and controversial.
The great drama of the trinitarian hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy”
The beloved song can contain God’s glory no more than the scripture it’s based on.
Which new books deserve a spot under the Christmas tree?
We asked our contributing editors to each pick two.
Our narratives about nation-states
Is an organized state the pinnacle of progress? James Scott doesn’t think so.
How Wendell Berry helps us negotiate our post-agrarian condition
Something is lost when we no longer know the art of filling a wagon.
Marxism and the New Testament
As Roland Boer and Christina Petterson see it, the Gospels contradict the witness of Jesus about slavery and property.
Reading the Bible with a sacramental sensibility
Hans Boersma sees scripture as more open to imaginative reading than our modern methods permit. The key is faith in Christ.
Saul, David, and the morality of power
How shrewdly the drama of mixed motives, mixed loyalties, and mixed feelings unfolds.
How Karl Barth preached the gospel in a time of crisis
The headlines spoke of nationalism and war. Barth proclaimed a living God who calls for repentance.
Lincoln, Luther, and the prophet Jeremiah lament our pathos-filled world
Who I'd invite to my writers' dinner party
Multitudes of Moseses
From baby in a basket to liberating lawgiver, Moses has been all things to all people.
Emancipation and economics
Lincoln understood that the dream of well-being, if not radically democratized, would for some people only be a nightmare.