BIBLICAL REFLECTIONS

Greetings from Tucson!

Note the new posts and the new organization for the website. The posts on Genesis have been moved to the Riffs on Genesis page. The latest posts feature the Jacob story. For those click on Riffs on Genesis in the menu at the top of this page.

The posts I’ve collected here are reflections on biblical themes and materials that are not based on Genesis. These studies are eclectic, ranging across the Old Testament and the New. I hope that they will together point to ways of approaching the Bible that illuminate not only the biblical text but life itself, which is is what any good biblical reflection should do.

Posts:

A WORD FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT BELIEVE: FAITH AS ENCOUNTERJanuary 24, 2023
In the Bible “faith” rarely means “belief”—at least, not in the sense that “belief” has come to have in popular Christianity: what I will call “belief about.” We are not saved by belief. This is not what the Bible teaches. But if my experience is at all representative, this is what many in church think […]
THE BOOK OF JOB AND A DEEPER ECOLOGYJanuary 6, 2023
By any measure, Job is a brilliant book. It’s also something of a mess. Allow me to page you through it. I’m particularly interested in the speeches of God that come near the end of the book and the relationship of those speeches to how we might think about life on earth. The speeches develop […]
A CHRISTMAS MEDITATIONDecember 16, 2022
Christmas is never the New Testament’s first thought. The stories of the birth of Jesus are found in only two of the gospels, Matthew and Luke. Our Christmas celebrations and songs are narrower still, mostly from Luke. Matthew’s account we slip in and around the Luke story as best we can, putting camels in our […]
READING SCRIPTURE THROUGH THE EYES OF PAULJuly 18, 2022
Informed Imagination in Practice Reflections on Synod 2022 A note for readers for whom “Synod 2022” in the title above means nothing. The synod in question is the annual general assembly of the Christian Reformed Church that met most recently this past June. On its agenda was a report prepared by a committee appointed to […]
CLOSED DOORS AND OPEN WINDOWSJune 26, 2022
Where I live in the Pacific Northwest, summer comes slowly, often not arriving until the end of June. Today, June 24, is the first real summer day of the year. We have the windows open. A gentle breeze blows across the waters of the sound. The waves sparkle in the late afternoon sun. On a […]
INFORMED IMAGINATION: A PARADIGM FOR BIBLICAL INTERPRETATIONJune 2, 2022
How should we approach the Bible? It’s become increasingly clear that the approach taken by post-Reformation conservative Protestantism—the approach many of us were taught—is a dead end. I would count the Chicago Statements on Biblical Inerrancy (https://defendinginerrancy.com/chicago-statements/) as the beginning of the end for that approach, although it will be a long time with us. […]