Week 1 (Year 3, NL)

Stephen Greenblatt weaves an impressive—but incomplete—tapestry of interpretations of the story of the Fall.

Like the first humans, I am far from divine. 

Princeton Theological Seminary's farm grows food. But this isn't the main point.

What is the point of prayer? The question is writ large in the texts from both the Hebrew scripture and the Gospel for this Sunday. The terrain is fraught with places to trip and fall.

Like Adam, we may end up treating God as if God were at the periphery. But where there is no center—or where we become the center—the circumference of life disappears.

Karl Giberson offers a cultural history of the Bible's first human. It's an intriguing and unsettling story.

Ellen Davis is full of surprises. Some are delightful, others raise questions for further study, and still others throw up stumbling blocks.

Is there any chance that people will not sin?

When you grow up with a grandmother who insists that you thank the hens every time you gather their eggs, gratitude becomes second nature.

I have lived in the U.S. for nearly three years now, and there is so much to love: the beauty and the grandeur of the landscape, the welcome and hospitality I’ve found in one city after another, and so many new friends.

But there is one thing I don’t love so much.

In the Bible, forgiveness involves repayment of what is owed. One way to pay down the debt is through charity to the poor.

Deo gratias. That’s what the sign in my office says. It’s not fancy, just two words laser-printed on office paper and tacked up over the computer monitor so I can read it dozens of times a day. 

The phrase—which means “Thanks be to God”—is the traditional Benedictine greeting that monks offer visitors.

What might God have to say about the creatures most people don’t think of as lovable?

The first Sunday of Lent is the best time of the year to talk about sin. Many people in the church, especially the mainline church, are stuck when it comes to the overlap of sin and sensuality. No one really wants to be the pastor who comes over all judgmental about sex.