Theolog

Holy mothers of God

By Kristin M. Swenson

Quick, what do these women have in common: hooker for a day, prostitute, foreigner, adulteress, unwed mother? Hint: They appear in the Bible together, and without them, we'd have no Christmas. If you guessed that they are the only women named in a list of Jesus' predecessors, kudos to you.

Genealogies in the Bible seldom make for good reading. Many's the pious person who, determined to read the Bible from start to finish, sails through stories of creation, disobedience and fratricide only to founder on the shoals of "begats." But those lists of names—Mehujael, Methushael, Lamech, Jabal—so odd to our ears, serve a purpose.

Mining for biblical truth

By Kristin Swenson

The first Bible class I took in college made me angry. For a mild-mannered Midwesterner these are big words, and I surprised even myself. I fumed as the professor taught that Isaiah's "for unto us a child is born" wasn't written about Jesus, and rolled my eyes in exasperation when he explained that we can't say for sure exactly what Jesus really said. I am now that professor. Wonders never cease.

How to study Luke?

By Debra Bendis

Our congregation is on the verge of an all-church study of Luke. Usually it’s been potluck in our congregation, with one class reading the lectionary texts, a woman’s group reading inspirational books, the Sunday school studying a book of the Bible and another group watching a DVD on the Old Testament. This fall, our goal is to engage as many members as possible in one central biblical text. We are rejecting for now using a formal curriculum (which would demand more training, money and scheduling), although we’re hoping that the Lukan study might lead to an increased demand for such studies.

Publicity or perish

By Jeffrey S. Rogers

When Hollywood producer and director James Cameron served as the master of ceremonies for the unveiling of the limestone “bone boxes” from Jerusalem, he announced: “I’m not a biblical scholar . . . but it seemed pretty darn compelling.” Imagine if Cameron had said, “I’m not an astronomer or a biologist, but this Canadian filmmaker has discovered life on Mars. It’s pretty darn compelling.” Would anyone but National Enquirer run the story? Or if he had said, “I’m not a viral epidemiologist, but this Canadian filmmaker has discovered an herbal antidote for HIV. It’s pretty darn compelling.” That’s the stuff of Star Magazine. But because this story was allegedly about Jesus of Nazareth, the bar is set so low that tabloid claims and celebrity endorsements are all that are necessary to merit widespread attention.

No-longer-hard passages of scripture

By Timothy Larsen

As an earnest Christian teenager I remember asking a Bible professor if there were any parts of scripture that troubled him. He felt that it was his duty to shore up my confidence in God’s word and therefore responded with a resounding and unequivocal “No” and a little, upbeat speech to underline his answer. I decided he was not the teacher I needed.

On the other side of the account, during that same period of my life, I remember being delighted when a Christian publisher came out with a series of books on “The Hard Sayings” of the Bible. It was equally apologetic in intent, but its conceptual framework was reassuring. It conceded, even in its title, that when we read the Bible devotionally we sometimes came across things that disturb us.

I have also discovered another phenomenon: the no-longer-hard passages of scripture.

The secret gospel

By John Dart

In a light-hearted column in the New York Times March 31, Peter Steinfels touched on a serious scholarly debate. In light of the attention given to dubious stories about the supposed ossuaries of Jesus’ family and to newly discovered gospel texts, Steinfels wondered why claims about the existence of the “Secret Gospel of Mark” have not attracted more notice.