biblical interpretation
Multitudes of Moseses
From baby in a basket to liberating lawgiver, Moses has been all things to all people.
Take & Read: New Testament
Matthew L. Skinner recommends the best recently published books in his field.
selected by Matthew L. Skinner
Novel exegesis
The lines between sacred history and contemporary life are wonderfully, miraculously blurred.
The feminist Bushnell
Katharine Bushnell was a reforming whirlwind who left the mission field to campaign for temperance and against the sex trade.
Hermeneutics in a fragile land
The history of Palestinian Christian interpretation of the Old Testament reminds us of the nuanced, fragile nature of life in that region.
reviewed by Walter Brueggemann
How to Read the Bible, by Harvey Cox
For the Bible to belong not only to the church or the academy but to the people, a guidebook is needed. Harvey Cox provides one.
reviewed by Robert Cornwall
One story, three ways
Robert Gregg traces five scriptural stories as they were later understood by commentators—Jewish, Christian, and Muslim.
The Bible’s Yes to Same-Sex Marriage, by Mark Achtemeier
Mark Achtemeier and I once faced off at General Assembly over gay ordination. Sixteen years later, he preached at my ordination.
reviewed by Scott D. Anderson
The many Jobs
C. L. Seow explores how the book of Job might have been understood by its original writers and audiences, and how we might look at it now.
Don't dissect the parables
Parables aren’t too helpful, are they? Here’s what would be helpful: six steps to better discipleship. Or the three secrets of the kingdom of God, spelled out in an acrostic.
If only Jesus’ teachings were as simplistic as they are often portrayed.
Wisdom and light
Is John 1 a midrash on the creation story and the song of creative Wisdom? If so, its writer has infused it with profoundest joy.