The Good Word

Why should a biblical scholar take note of canon law We might equally ask why should the blogging son of a canon lawyer suddenly push onto the front stage an article written by his father almost six years ago Why now Thomas Peters who calls himself ldquo American Papist rdquo published a few

nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp Each Gospel has its own way of presenting what each thought necessary to know about Jesus that John the Baptist was a witness to the identity of Jesus nbsp John s witness was extremely powerful because John was so greatly admired by everyone nbsp Though he did not beco

The Pope rsquo s recent comments on purgatory were extremely helpful His statement on purgatory helped to clarify the reality of purgatory not as a place but as a process but also simply any comment on the reality of purgatory is helpful From a news report on the Pope rsquo s comments we receiv

In my NT class this week we discussed the Gospel of Matthew the ecclesial Gospel which alone amongst the four Gospels actually uses the word ldquo ekklesia rdquo or Church We had some interesting discussions about the nature and exercise of authority in the Church and students are often surpri

What does the Good Word have to say to current political events in the USA Not much in some ways but everything in other ways for the Bible has a lot to say about speech its purposes and misuses The Bible fascinatingly nowhere mentions the Democrats or Republicans though I am pretty certain

The baptism of Jesus is the beginning of his ministry as all of the Synoptic Gospels Matthew 3 13-17 Luke 3 21-23 Mark 1 9-15 and Acts 10 37-38 demonstrate This is the point at which Jesus is called both to begin and to fulfill his mission One of the major questions must be quite simply why

Messy Jesus Blog a new blog run by Sr Julia Walsh FSPA nbsp and her friends has a guest blog from Sr Sarah Hennessey reflecting on the Baptism of Jesus The entry Segues looks at the reality of transitions in our lives Liturgically now is a moment of segues from the nativity of Epiphany t

This reflection on True Grit contains a multitude of spoilers True Grit is a biblical movie from the beginning to the end not just in terms of biblical citations and hymns which mine the biblical landscape but in terms of characterization themes tone and feel The Coen brothers rsquo film

If it is true that God is the end to which we are all called the source from whom all life emerges and the goal for which we yearn and strain then it is so for all people The knowledge of God is not simply something which becomes known with the coming of Christ it was known before his coming and

The central point of the Magi story is clear gentiles treat Jesus as a king whereas all Jerusalem is greatly disturbed by news of a newly born King of the Jews the title currently held by Herod the Great as a gift from Rome nbsp One finds little openness to gentiles from Jesus in his publ