Jesus said to his disciples Be watchful Be alert You do not know when the time will come It is like a man traveling abroad He leaves home and places his servants in charge each with his own work and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch Watch therefore you do not know when the Lord of the hous
John W. Martens
John W. Martens is an associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn,where he teaches early Christianity and Judaism. He also directs the Master of Arts in Theology program at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity. He was born in Vancouver, B.C. into a Mennonite family that had decided to confront modernity in an urban setting. His post-secondary education began at Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas, came to an abrupt stop, then started again at Vancouver Community College, where his interest in Judaism and Christianity in the earliest centuries emerged. He then studied at St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, and McMaster University, with stops at University of Haifa and University of Tubingen. His writing often explores the intersection of Jewish, Christian and Greco-Roman culture and belief, such as in "let the little children come to me: Children and Childhood in Early Christianity" (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009), but he is not beyond jumping into the intersection of modernity and ancient religion, as in "The End of the World: The Apocalyptic Imagination in Film and Television" (Winnipeg: J. Gordon Shillingford Press, 2003). He blogs at www.biblejunkies.com and at www.americamagazine.org for "The Good Word." You can follow him on Twitter @biblejunkies, where he would be excited to welcome you to his random and obscure interests, which range from the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Timberwolves, to his dog, and 70s punk, pop and rock. When he can, he brings students to Greece, Turkey and Rome to explore the artifacts and landscape of the ancient world. He lives in St. Paul with his wife and has two sons. He is certain that the world will not end until the Vancouver Canucks have won the Stanley Cup, as evidence has emerged from the Revelation of John, 1 Enoch, 2 Baruch, and 4 Ezra which all point in this direction.
Posted inThe Good Word
Gratitude Back
Earlier this Fall we decided it was time to sell some of the toys the boys now 23 and 15 had accumulated over their childhoods There were too many trucks action figures and games which were no longer needed or useful this does not include Lego wooden train sets wooden castle blocks from Germa
Posted inThe Good Word
The Contradiction of Christ’s Power
The contradictory nature of Christ rsquo s kingship a sign of contradiction for the world and his followers is not seen in the power that properly belongs to his kingship but the manner in which he lays it down for the nbsp world and for the Church This contradiction reveals not only the heart o
Posted inThe Good Word
Call of Duty: Ancient (and Modern) Warfare 3
This passage from Paul rsquo s first letter to the Thessalonians 5 1-6 falls squarely into the realm of Jewish apocalyptic thought as does much of Jesus rsquo own teaching found in the Gospels with one profound difference the Christians were not Jews awaiting the coming of the Messiah The follo
Posted inThe Good Word
The Men Who Were Not There: Updated
People often talk about absent men fathers who are not there male role models lacking in boys rsquo lives but what about when the men are everywhere and nowhere to be seen nbsp In the case of the allegations of sexual abuse in the Penn State football program the men were not and are not ther
Posted inThe Good Word
Final Answers
There are times when teaching moves beyond facts and data and reveals the depth of human longing These are times when students connect the material they are studying to their own lives and the questions they ask are unencumbered by shyness fear of embarrassment worry or concern about lack of know
Posted inThe Good Word
Allegations of Childhood Sex Abuse: Updated
This is not a post about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church I have written here before about child sexual abuse perpretrated by clergy in the Catholic Church and covered up by others within the Church Some have claimed it s not that bad and blown out of proportion others claim such things do not
Posted inThe Good Word
Adam and Eve: Science and Theology
In August I raised the question of whether Catholic theology understands Adam and Eve as real historical persons especially in light of new scientific evidence reagrding the origin of human beings evidence which was now being considered by evangelical scholars Albert Mohler warned against this m
Posted inThe Good Word
Sainthood
I battle between notions of sainthood which I find in the Bible and notions of sainthood which have developed organically in the Church over the centuries We might fairly call these the Protestant and Catholic concepts of sainthood though ultimately this is too limiting for either idea As a boy
Posted inThe Good Word
My Mother, The Priest
The Apostle Paul had arrived in Thessalonica only months before his first letter to the Church there was written nbsp Paul along with Barnabas and Timothy went to Thessalonica in what scholars sometimes call ldquo the 2nd Missionary journey rdquo departing from Philippi where they had begun t