Category: The Bible as Literature

As in the story of Genesis, for each generation of Luke’s genealogy, the functional names outline the literary framework of a recurring biblical dilemma: without God’s perpetual intervention, life from age to age is impossible. In science and engineering, numerous terms are used to describe similar mechanisms. In physics and thermodynamics, it is referred to…

When we set out to start a business, a project, a book, or an endeavor of any kind, most of us begin by asking ourselves, who is my audience, and how can I make my work relevant to them? Outside the arena of biblical preaching, these are normal, practical – even necessary – questions. However,…

For years on this program, in homilies and personal discussions with parishioners, family, and friends — I have explained that there is no such thing as progress. That you can’t earn anything. That nothing you have belongs to you. No one owes you anything, and even what you seem to have will be taken away,…

According to the rule of the Lukan genealogy, the recent coronation of the English king was uncanny in its egregious assault on the biblical proclamation of the Resurrection. On the one hand, those who have stayed with this podcast over the years have (hopefully) come to understand that Scripture is a system of cancellation encoded…

If you are fortunate to live under the pressure of the Gospel, sooner or later, your life will be reduced to a showdown with the Scriptural God. You will have the opportunity to be embarrassed, admit your failure, lose face, and look foolish in front of the person who preached the word of God to…

Nothing is more painful than watching young parents explain their intention to raise their children differently than their parents or observing young mothers hovering over grandmothers, micro-managing their every move, scolding, correcting, worrying, overprotecting, and gossiping, all based on advice from their therapist or some silly blog post about the “right” way to parent according…

When hearing the Lukan genealogy of Jesus in English, it’s easy for people to adopt anti-scriptural notions of “king” and “priest,” developing incorrect expectations for how Jesus Christ will rule in the coming kingdom. But, as always, the key to hearing the author’s story lies in the meaning of the names. Between two Josephs, who…

The New Testament storyline places considerable emphasis and tension on the question of Jesus’s title. The Gospel of Matthew stresses that Jesus is an ordinary Ben Adam (Son of Man), while the Gospel of Mark shows him repeatedly insisting that people not reveal his identity as the Messiah because of their ignorance of his teaching….

In the first chapters of Luke, just as the Spirit moves from womb to womb, beginning with the angel Gabriel, the commandment moves from person to person, ensuring that God’s eudokia (his goodwill) is fulfilled—in the spirit of term—to his complete satisfaction. From Zacharias and Elizabeth to Mary and Joseph, and notably, the Shepherds of…

Sorting out one’s personal priorities is the most difficult aspect of committing to anything of value. Well, let’s qualify that statement. Committing to your priorities is easy when you measure value using money or self-interest. Everyone happily, readily, half-consciously, and with much pomp, fanfare, and self-justification explains how busy they are pursuing money, a career,…