On Thursday, I will upload the video of my interview with Garret Mostowski, a pastor in Detroit. When I interviewed him, he was a student at Princeton Divinity School, leading a weekly “holy reading” group at Trinity Episcopal Church in Princeton. Holy reading (aka lectio divina) involves listening to the…
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Teach the Bible Like Stephen King? Horrors!
I’ve come to the place in my reading and studying the Bible that a fresh angle is refreshing. I know the traditional interpretations, the safe and comfortable writers, the orthodox perspectives, the insights from people like me – white, middle-class, educated, men. These days, I long for a different angle….
Finding God in the Faith of Outsiders
I have just completed reading Barbara Brown Taylor’s memoir as a teacher of world religions, Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others. It was a great read – insightful, profound, and humorous. Barbara’s “holy envy” comes as she recognizes in others’ religions things that are missing in her…
Bible-believing Bashers
This week, I saw that my denomination posted an article on Facebook about a new ministry. A comment below the announcement read, “Fake Baptists. Don’t believe the Bible is God’s word.” Although the comment was not directed to me personally, I was offended by the dismissive comment and the Pharisaical…
Your teaching is probably incomplet
Back to Eden Sometimes, I begin my lessons with a quiz. I do this with stories that we assume we already know such as the story of Adam and Eve. Here are a few sample questions: The name of the man in Eden is… Adam Tarzan Dirt He is unnamed…
Ripping Pages Out of the Bible
More often than I like, I read Bible passages I don’t like. I find that my friends face this same dilemma. We love God’s Word(s) – except for some of them. I asked my Facebook friends, “What story or saying in the Bible do you wish were not there?” Here…
How to Toss a Bible
What do you do with a Bible you no longer want? I have a lot of these. Some are odd translations that I never use. If I am interested in what these might say, there are apps for that. Some Bibles are duplicates. How many NIVs does a person need?…
How harmful is your Bible?
“This book should come with a warning label,” Allen Callahan says of the Bible. In my interview with Allen (which will post this Thursday) we covered, as we always do, “who has been a ‘great Bible teacher’ in your life?” For Allen, it was a professor who was himself taught…
My pastor responds to my previous blog post
I feel a little guilty Having been a pastor myself, I know how difficult a job that is. It is even more difficult in a divisive election year. Then add a heavy layer of pandemic on top of all that. It’s rough. So, I’ve been feeling a little guilty this…
The Hostility Toward Bible Study Teachers
Something’s wrong Bible study for adults gets a lot of knocks. Here are some I’ve heard recently: It’s boring. It’s irrelevant. It’s a clique. I can’t say that those criticisms are unjustified. Some teachers find ways to make “The joy of the Lord is my strength” bland. Some teachers take…
