Previously on this blog I have written about the Common English Bible translation and the Conservative Bible Project though I have not connected the two in nbsp any way At the Better Bibles Blog which is dedicated to improving Bible translations Wayne Leman has written about claims that the Comm
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
“Summon the Laborers and Give Them Their Pay”
Jesus told his disciples this parable ldquo The Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage he sent them into his vineyard Going out about nine o rsquo clock he saw others standing idle in the m
Posted inThe Good Word
Jesus Creed Blog on “Universalism” and “Damnation” Biblical Passages
There was an interesting post at Scot McNight rsquo s Jesus Creed blog on September 14 2011 dealing with ldquo universalism rdquo in the New Testament nbsp Basically McNight wanted to know why the texts speaking of ldquo all rdquo finding salvation in Christ were not taken as seriously as tho
Posted inThe Good Word
St. Anselm of Canterbury on the Paradox of the Cross
The fundamental paradox of Christianity is the Cross A reading for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Philippians 2 6-11 reveals the outlines of this paradox This passage known as ldquo the Hymn to Christ rdquo is thought by many scholars to be a ldquo pre-Pauline rdquo hymn su
Posted inThe Good Word
Mercy
The USA is often portrayed as the ldquo Greatest Country in the World rdquo or conversely nbsp the ldquo Great Satan rdquo the place to fulfill the American Dream or the Boulevard of Broken Dreams On September 11 2001 the reality of both of those categorizations met when planes were flown i
Posted inThe Good Word
Jesus Loves Even Metrosexuals
Monsignor Charles Pope of the Archdiocese of Washington wrote an online post on September 1 which stated that ldquo Jesus Was no ldquo Girlie-man rdquo On Restoring a Truer Vision of the Biblical Jesus from the 20th Century Remake rdquo In this article Monsignor Pope claims that images of Jes
Posted inThe Good Word
All You Need Is Love
ldquo All you need is love rdquo sang the Beatles and we should not overlook the fact that Jesus and Paul were singing the same song as John and Paul far earlier and from a song sheet developed in ancient Israel Admittedly the early Christians developed the tune in a particular manner riffing
Posted inThe Good Word
Evil and Illness
The Apostle Paul writes I do not understand my own actions For I do not do what I want but I do the very thing I hate Now if I do what I do not want I agree that the law is good But in fact it is no longer I that do it but sin that dwells within me For I know that nothing good dwells within
Posted inThe Good Word
A Link to ‘Spiritual But Not Religious? Please Stop Boring Me’
I was greeted on nbsp my Facebook page late this afternoon with a discussion regarding a blog post on which nbsp a number of my colleagues were commenting hat-tip to Gerald Schlabach The post is by Lillian Daniel a UCC Church minister on the reading Matthew 16 18 And I tell you that you are P
Posted inThe Good Word
How Does It Feel To Suffer? What Does It Mean To Suffer?
The Readings for Sunday August 28 the nbsp Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Jeremiah 20 7-9 Psalm 63 2-9 Romans 12 1-2 Matthew 16 21-27 raise nbsp two questions one simple and one complex nbsp How does it feel to suffer What does it mean to suffer Suffering consumes the body ev