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:
- READING THEOLOGICALLY, AND WHY IT MATTERSGod’s Homecoming Last week I published a rather long review of a popular book by N. T. Wright, God’s Homecoming (2025). I spent some time with the book because I think it raises important issues. In it, Wright attempts to redefine what it means to be human—what it means to live and to die apart from two… Read more: READING THEOLOGICALLY, AND WHY IT MATTERS
- LIFE BEYOND: A REVIEW OF GOD’S HOMECOMING by N. T. WrightN. T. Wright, God’s Homecoming: The Forgotten Promise of Future Renewal (HarperOne, 2025; digital edition, 2026) He understands as he mouths the words what’s happening here. He desperately wants to believe that his son still exists, still exists in some actual sense, not just as a memory, and what happened to him is somehow part of some… Read more: LIFE BEYOND: A REVIEW OF GOD’S HOMECOMING by N. T. Wright
- REFLECTING ON CHURCH IN TRIESTE, ITALYTHE LIMITS OF THEOLOGY We’ve been traveling. You may have noticed the radio silence from me. Or not. I had almost forgotten it was Sunday. Easy to do when you are traveling, nine time zones from home. We were wandering the streets of Trieste, Italy, the lovely town on the shores of the Adriatic. We… Read more: REFLECTING ON CHURCH IN TRIESTE, ITALY
- TAKING EVIL SERIOUSLYRETRIEVING A BIBLICAL VIEW OF EVIL We who grew Reformed pride ourselves in taking evil seriously. Total depravity, and all that. The doctrine of total depravity does make us wary of anyone who claims too much righteousness. We were taught that pious talk often serves as a cover for dishonorable motives. We expect people, religious… Read more: TAKING EVIL SERIOUSLY
- Begin with BelongingRetrieving Election Begin with belonging. Churches (not just churches but many religious groups, regardless of the faith they espouse) begin from the opposite direction: they tell you that you don’t belong, that you will belong only if you believe what they believe, if you take the membership class, if you say the prayer, if you… Read more: Begin with Belonging
- THE HISTORICAL ADAM AND OTHER MYTHS: MEDITATIONS ON THE PAST, PART 3The importance of the past In his introduction to Athanasius’s On Incarnation, C. S. Lewis suggested that one should read at least one old book for every new one. By old, he had in mind books from the previous century and beyond. He mentions in a single breath St. Luke, St. Paul, St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas,… Read more: THE HISTORICAL ADAM AND OTHER MYTHS: MEDITATIONS ON THE PAST, PART 3
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Fairhaven Harbor, Bellingham, Washington
2 responses to “BIBLICAL REFLECTIONS”
Really enjoy your thought-provoking musings, Clay.
Thanks.