History is filled with oppression — nations rising on the backs of slaves, governments entrenching inequality and cultures ignoring the cries of the vulnerable. For centuries, people have been stripped of dignity, denied opportunity, education, health, resources and forced into…
What if it’s just Jesus?
If I live another few weeks, I will soon turn 70 years old. Like anyone who has lived that long, I have seen many things come and go and change, one of the most bewildering of which is the degree…
The Bible Is About Jesus—but Not Jesus Without His Bride
If the Bible is the most-published book in world history, books about the Bible sometimes feel like a close second. That’s not a bad thing. I’ve written a couple of them myself and may have more in me. Books about the Bible…
Christ Renews Our Minds, not Our Brains
What exactly am I? And what are you? The nature and essence of human beings is one of the most widely discussed and hotly debated topics not just of our time but arguably of all time.
Rated “J” for Jesus: A box office blasphemy
In the global capitals of cinema — Hollywood in the United States, Bollywood in India, and Nollywood in Nigeria — one name crosses genres, crosses cultures and crosses continents. It’s not the name of a starlet, a mogul, or a…
Why American Christians are divided
“Is Christ divided?” Paul asks the rhetorical question to the church in Corinth. The answer of course is, “no.” However, the undercurrent of the church in Corinth was that even though Christ is not divided, the Christians were. We must…
How would Jesus judge America?
Judgment is not my favorite subject. I’d rather speak about grace. However, I cannot deny that Jesus, at least in the memory of the Gospel writers, mentioned judgment on numerous occasions. Which has me wondering, if Jesus were to visit…
Who Gets a Seat at the Last Supper?
Donald Trump’s re-election has sent many scrambling for historical comparisons. There is somehow comfort in the discovery (or at any rate the assertion) that there are precedents for even the most confusing and chaotic aspects of our uncertain present.
Jesus, the Holy Spirit and ‘more of the same’
For the past 30 years, I have made it a practice to read the four Gospels all the way through, every word, about three or four times a year; all of which must add up to somewhere around a hundred…
You can’t love Jesus and hate immigrants
In the years leading up to World War II and the Holocaust, large numbers of German Christians condemned people who differed from them politically, theologically, nationally or ethnically. In the midst of that dangerous context, one offbeat newspaper dared to…
Does Trump Really Talk About Jesus More Than Other Presidents?
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump created a “religious liberty commission” to be chaired by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and with a membership that’s made up almost entirely of conservative Christians. As Trump announced this effort with a group of his…
America chose Barabbas
All four Gospels share a version of the story of a tradition that had arisen during the Festival of Passover when the Roman governor, Pilate, would release a prisoner of the crowd’s choosing. Barabbas was an insurrectionist and a murderer,…