Rediscovering the Bible’s Perspective
We modern Christians struggle more to understand our Bibles than many people throughout history.
Articles
Is God in Paradise?
“Our father in heaven” doesn’t quite mean what you think.
Disciples as Apprentices
In Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus, we wrote about the life of an ancient disciple in chapter 4, called “Following the Rabbi.” You might remember that the ancient practice of apprenticeship is very similar, and likely the source of some of the traditions of discipleship. I included the story of a modern day [...]
Haverim Who are Passionate about Study
In the book Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus, we talk about the Jewish tradition of studying the Scriptures and Jewish commentaries as haverim. Pairs or small groups grapple together aloud over a text, earnest in their desire to dig deeper. This tradition is ancient – a rabbinic comment was made before Jesus’ time [...]
The Flood: From Baby’s Room to Philosopher’s Den
Happy cartoons of arks and rainbows. Fuzzy-faced animals marching two-by-two across the walls of a baby’s room. Most of us read the account of Noah as a cute children’s story. Some people want to focus on the story’s historicity – how the large the ark was, where it landed, or its impact on geology. But [...]
Hebraic Thinking is that of an Oral Culture
In Walter Ong’s classic book Orality and Literacy, he shares a fascinating theory about why our modern Western culture thinks so differently than the way the Bible does. Eastern thinking, like what you find in the Old Testament, is very concrete and image-oriented, and it uses stories and parables to explain rather than abstract logic. [...]
Jewish Thoughts on Living Water
In rabbinic thought, the study of God’s Word is likened to water.
Not Yours to Complete
How Jewish ethics deals with smoking can teach us about following Christ.
Those who have much will be given more
For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. Matthew 25:29 I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard a sermon based on this tough saying of Jesus. The line comes up several places. We find it after the [...]