Summer reading lists have appeared in the last few weeks giving readers especially beach-going ones suggestions for enhancing their leisure time As strange as it might sound I m using today s blog to recommend adding the Bible to your summer-reading list One of the most significant trend

The Bible is populated with many characters that appear briefly and then vanish from the scene Philip the most prominent person in Acts 8 is one of these Except for a brief mention of his name in 6 5 and 21 8 all we know about him involves two scenes of preaching--one to the Samaritans and one

Though the compilers of the lectionary probably did not have the Presidential primary season in mind when selecting this week s passage from 1 Corinthians it is difficult for me as a resident of South Carolina to read these words from Paul without thinking of electoral politics With the Republ

A classic American text John Graves s Goodbye to a River celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year This non-fiction work chronicles Graves s three-week trip down the Brazos River in Texas and along the journey Graves reflects on nature his own life and local history with remarkably cr

Eschatology the study of the end times tends to get people fired up To get a discussion going about eschatology simply ask the question What would you do today if you knew that the world would end tomorrow and people will talk Changing the word tomorrow to next week or next year and t

The story of the ten lepers Luke 17 11-19 appears often in instructional material for children I certainly remember learning from this story the lesson of gratitude The moral of this story was that no matter how ungratefully others might respond to acts of kindness I should always express thank

Leading up to the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Harry Potter fans speculated as to who might die since author J K Rowling had indicated that major characters would meet their demise in the final book The biggest question of all involved Harry himself Would Rowling dare to

Some New Testament scholars use the model of a sage a novel dispenser of wisdom to explain how Jesus might have looked to his contemporaries Though the idea of Jesus as sage does not do justice to the entirety of the gospel stories it certainly fits Luke 11 9-13 On the heels of the Lord s Pra

Throughout his letters Paul s statements display the enormity of his conversion experience One of the starkest statements he makes occurs in Galatians 2 20 I have been crucified with Christ yet I live no longer I but Christ lives in me insofar as I now live in the flesh I live by faith in