Most readers of this column have been in a position of authority at some time I rsquo m sure and some of us this writer included enjoy a constancy of authority because of education ordination position or wealth Though we might not speak of it often even quietly to ourselves it is a delight

The common understanding of the relationship between Onesimus and Philemon in Paul rsquo s letter to Philemon is that Onesimus was a slave of Philemon Though it remains a debated issue Onesimus had either run away from Philemon or had been sent by him to render service to Paul while he was impriso

The whole nature of kingship can be confusing At least it is confusing to me raised as I was in Canada a democracy that nevertheless retains a monarch as head of state It does not necessarily get clearer in the United States whose founding as an independent nation goes back to the casting off o

Family life in antiquity was a life of insecurity though families in many parts of the world still know this insecurity well even today The warm pictures we might concoct of ancient families mdash though certainly the ancients loved their children and spouses loved each other just as families do

There is an inherent tension in Christianity between the indicative and the imperative what we are and what we are intended to be between the present and the future the life we are now living and the world to come If we focus only on this world or only on the world to come the Christian life is

The Greek word that refers to Jesus rsquo arrival most often translated as ldquo second coming rdquo is parousia The term was adopted by Christians from the common Greek usage and imperial Roman ideology of the day in which a city prepared for and eagerly anticipated the arrival of a major po

As a child I saw the world in peculiar ways as children tend to do influenced partly by the two powerful forces of television and the Bible Growing up in the 1960s I was fairly certain from the movies and TV shows I watched that a good portion of humanity died in quicksand so I was on guard fo

Sin is attractive I have watched a lot of television shows in my life and a lot more commercials and the one thing I know for certain is that sin is fun often accompanied by happy young women and men and there are no absolutely no consequences for bad behavior If you want to be justified in y

Paul rsquo s First Letter to Timothy though many scholars doubt Paul wrote it reflects the heart of the Christian hope that Paul expressed in his letters ldquo Fight the good fight of the faith take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in