Toyota has a new television commercial in which the line saved by zero is sung over and over Since I have no idea what the kids listen to anymore except my own – and yes what they listen to scares me just like my punk albums scared my parents – I was not certain if Toyota was digging into so
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.
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Galatians 3:1-14
Is it foolish NRSV Galatians or stupid NAB Galatians It s so hard to know and so hard for a Galatian to catch a break one way or the other Paul writes in a polemical style common among ancient writers but jarring to our ears It is hard to imagine a papal encyclical beginning with stupid
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“Justification”, “Faith in Christ” and “Works of the Law”
The Greek words that lie behind the English translations of justify justification and righteousness in the letters of Paul are the verb dikaioo and the nouns dikaios and dikaiosyne This Greek verb and associated nouns originally referred to justice and the results of justice delivered that is
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Galatians 2:1-21
The first reading for October 8 is Galatians 2 1-2 7-14 but we will look at the whole of the chapter Paul moves to explain the acceptance of the Gospel he preaches by the Church as a whole and he describes his encounter with the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem described also in Acts 15 Paul doe
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Galatians 1:6-24
I think of yesterday s first reading 1 6-12 as the opening of the Body of the letter The omission of the Thanksgiving strikes me even now as a little shocking because even in situations that seem to have run out of control in other cities think Corinth Paul manages more than a perfunctory Tha
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Have No Anxiety At All?
Paul writes in Philippians 4 6-9 Brothers and sisters Have no anxiety at all but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving make your requests known to God Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus Finally brothers
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“Do not despise one of these little ones”
Sometime soon the Catholic University Press of America will publish a book authored by Cornelia Horn of Saint Louis University and myself on children in the early Church titled Let the Little Children Come to Me Children and Childhood in Early Christianity The genesis of this book was a s
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“Your Mother and your Brothers are standing outside”
The Gospel for the Memorial of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina priest September 23 2008 is Luke 8 19-21 which I will cite in full The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd He was told Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and the
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John 3:16
The bronze serpent which Moses lifted up in the desert Numbers 21 4-9 becomes a type of the Christ who is to come in the Gospel of John While the bronze serpent held up by Moses heals the Israelites of the snake bite that leads to physical death Jesus upon the cross heals us from the wounds
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The Feast of the Transfiguration
The Transfiguration is a unique event in the life of Jesus and appears in all three of the Synoptic Gospels I call it unique for a number of reasons 1 It is the one event in Jesus earthly ministry in the Synoptic Gospels in which Jesus glory is made manifest visually unless we include th