Scripture
August 29, Ordinary 22B (James 1:17–27)
Hearing the word and doing it aren’t as far apart as Martin Luther thought.
August 22, Ordinary 21B (Psalm 84)
In Psalm 84, an expectant swallow makes her nest in the temple.
August 15, Ordinary 20B (1 Kings 2:10–12; 3:3–14)
Solomon has everything—and still, he seeks transformation.
August 8, Ordinary 19B (2 Samuel 18:5–9, 15, 31–33)
David, Absalom, and the dangers of “hanging between heaven and earth”
August 1, Ordinary 18B (John 6:24–35)
“Trust me!” Jesus says, and the more he says it, the less the crowd is inclined to go along.
Is there no other prophet to consult?
Amid our dying empires and institutions, we might recall the story of King Ahab.
Living between the Bible’s first and last prayers
Most days I hover somewhere between Adam’s “I was afraid” and John of Patmos’s “Come, Lord Jesus.”
A psychological thriller about four Israeli women and their biblical role models
Sarah Blau’s protagonists are childless by choice. Herein lies the danger.
July 25, Ordinary 17B (2 Samuel 11:1–15)
Scripture does not accept David's behavior for business as usual, and neither should we.
Seven things I learned by teaching a Me Too Bible class
Scripture is filled with sexual violence. So, we learned, are our own lives.
How the midwives Shiphrah and Puah mock the violence of empire
They use Pharaoh’s tools to dismantle oppression.
July 18, Ordinary 16B (2 Samuel 7:1–14a)
God promises to build a bayit, a house. But not one with boundaries.
“Dad, why does Deuteronomy 20 talk about killing the boys and girls?”
My daughter wants to know. Even as a biblical scholar, I don’t have a good answer.
The distortions of the God Bless the USA Bible
The conflation of Christianity and American patriotism has never done either one any favors.
July 11, Ordinary 15B (2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19)
The gap in the lectionary’s account of the return of the Ark of the Covenant echoes a pattern we have seen too often in our country.
July 4, Ordinary 14B (2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10)
Whatever else David is, he is recognizably human and not a fairy-tale king.
June 27, Ordinary 13B (2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27)
When David praises Saul and Jonathan, is he acting out of expediency, faithfulness, or both?
Deconstructing the Republican Jesus
Biblical scholar Tony Keddie shows how the conservative movement enlisted the Bible to help its cause.
June 20, Ordinary 12B (1 Samuel 17:1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49)
Saul would have provided better odds against Goliath. But God might not have favored him in the matchup.