For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. //Paul’s teaching in the first letter…
Book Reviews
Continue Reading
Book review: Dawn Behind the Dawn
by Geoffrey Ashe ★★★ SPOILER ALERT Seven. Seven, 7, seven. Most of the book is taken up with this mystical number, a number with little practicality to explain its lofty status. Our seven-day week, for example, derives directly from the Hebrew reverence for this number, but it’s clumsy; seven divides…
1 Thess 4:17, the Parousia
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. //Virtually all Christians picture the parousia as an event where God-fearers are lifted up to heaven,…
Book Reviews
Continue Reading
Book review: The Bible With Sources Revealed
by Richard Elliott Friedman ★★★★ The first five books of the Bible are traditionally understood to have been written by Moses. In places, Jesus appears to confirm this. Most critical Bible scholars since the late 19th-century, however, have recognized at least four different contributors of the books of Moses: A…
Genesis 8:6-9, the Epic of Gilgamesh
After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface…
Book Reviews
Continue Reading
Book review: Socrates Meets Jesus
by Peter Kreeft ★★★★ If we were to revive Socrates, what would he think of today’s world? This is a light-hearted—dare I say “cute” without offending Kreeft—conversation with the most famous of all philosophers. Socrates, who lived long before Jesus came on the scene, awakens in the 21st century and enrolls…
Mark 15:34, Jesus’ Final Words
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” //The first three Gospels report Jesus crying loudly from the cross before he dies. In Mark, the first Gospel written, it’s a primal scream…
Book Reviews
Continue Reading
Book review: The Ancestor’s Tale
by Richard Dawkins ★★★★★ While I read different genres, I only review books with a religious content. So, if I may be excused for one of my “liberal Christian rants,” let me say this: It’s a sad day when a book about evolution earns a spot on the shelves of…
Isaiah 7:14, Born of a Virgin
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. //In this chapter, Isaiah speaks to King Ahaz, offering a sign from God. Ahaz wishes not to “put God to the test,” but Isaiah provides…
Book Reviews
Continue Reading
Book review: Revelation: The Way it Happened
by Lee Harmon ★★★★★ This short review of my latest book is by Midwest Book Review. Established in 1976, Midwest Book Review produces several review publications per month, with a goal of encouraging small press and increasing literacy. It selects about 450 books to review out of the 1,500 submitted each month. The organization has…