R R Reno has judged me in a new post today http www firstthings com onthesquare p 1324 to be an example of the wagon-circling guild mentality of so many contemporary biblical scholars More than a circler of wagons though my earlier response to him is the equivalent of a clarion call Ti

nbsp Beloved Christ suffered for sins once the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous that he might lead you to God Put to death in the flesh he was brought to life in the Spirit In it he also went to preach to the spirits in prison who had once been disobedient while God patiently waited i

Have you ever noticed that Jesus begins and ends his public ministry in the wilderness ?

Ash Wednesday whose ashes symbolize mourning and penitence is also it seems to me a period of joyous return The Apostle Paul captures this sense of joy in the second reading today 2 Corinthians 5 20-6 2 Paul has written earlier in 2 Cor 5 that the love of Christ urges him on in his ministry

nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp Two stories about Jesus that I think will be a guide for Lent are His nbsp calling at the time of his baptism and nbsp his temptations in the desert which immediately follow this baptism story nbsp The descent of the Spirit into Jesus and the words from on High yo

I must come clean about something though I could plead guilty to a lot more and it has to do with the modern study of the Bible At times I have criticized the study of the Bible as practiced since the Enlightenment even to those who are not of the guild of Biblical scholars That is I have betr