Several years ago, when a friend recommended the television show 24, I went to my local video store (back in the day when there was such a thing) and found the relevant section. I noticed that the first few episodes were checked out, so I grabbed an episode halfway through the first season in order […]
What do we know of Rahab the prostitute? In the Old Testament, her name occurs only in Joshua 2 and 6. (The other references to Rahab ‘e.g. Psalm 87:4′ are not to Rahab the prostitute. The names are spelled differently in the Hebrew.) In the New Testament, Rahab is mentioned in three somewhat prominent passages: […]
The story of the excavation of Jericho, the site of Joshua's famous battle, has long symbolized the tensions that can arise between archaeological explorations and faithful readings of the Bible. The story begins at the dawn of the twentieth century, when some European scholars first undertook a formal scientific excavation of the site. Perhaps not […]
To modern readers, there is an ethical problem with the biblical commands found at various points in the Old Testament to wipe out the Canaanites. Why would Israel's God, the God of Jesus Christ, order his own people to kill another people group’even a sinful people’in order to take their land? Several factors can help […]
Addressing over a thousand Israeli school children, University of Tel Aviv professor George Tamarin told a story of "General Lin." Using religion as a pretext for "ethnic cleansing," the general, who presided over the Chinese kingdom three millennia ago, ordered a massacre of men, women, and children throughout China. When asked for their response, only […]
I find it impossible," says N. T. Wright, "to imagine a growing and maturing church or Christian doing without the Psalms. And that is why (to be frank) a fair amount of contemporary Christian music has worried me for some time" (165). In this latest offering from Tom Wright, both individual Christian devotion and corporate […]
Why Cities Matter: To God, the Culture, and the Church, by Stephen T. Um and Justin Buzzard, announces a lofty goal on its back cover: To be "a comprehensive analysis… [that] answers questions including why cities are so important, what the Bible says about cities, how to overcome common issues and develop a plan for […]
In July of this year, the parody news network The Onion ran an article titled "Unambitious Loser with Happy, Fulfilling Life Still Lives in Hometown." It was a marvelous piece of satirical journalism focusing on society's disdain for people who "settle" for a "boring" life of meaningful relationships and healthy work-life balance. As someone who […]
From Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the "earth" as it was then known, the gospel went forth in the early decades and centuries of the new millennium, and daily many were added to the community of saints. From the perspective of the Roman Empire, Christianity went from a persecuted movement on the fringe of […]
"Do you suppose we'll meet any wild animals?" Dorothy asks her fellow travelers in the Wizard of Oz. Oh, only "lions, and tigers, and bears," the Tin Man responds. The Israelites might well have sung a similar chorus about their entrance into the Promised Land, although "Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites, oh my," doesn't have […]
