Kristin Swenson

Epiphany’s Choice and the Environment: In Reverence to Honor, or in Fear to Destroy

Bible, Bible and ecology, Blog, Ecology, Holidays, Jesus, Non-human Natural World, Politics / kswenson

Hang on, you there, packing up the Christmas lights, dismantling the tree, boxing up the crèche with its cast of characters and that long-tailed star. Christmas is not over. Sure, come December 26th, it may have been all over for the “Little Drummer Boy,” Bing Crosby, and the Nutcracker; but not quite for Christmas. The […]

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We Are Animals, Environment and Election 2016

Animals, Bible and ecology, Ecology, Non-human Natural World / kswenson

We are animals. I don’t mean that figuratively (though given the mud-fest incivility of this election, a case could be made). I mean it literally and to consider in the context of this election. We are blood, bone, brain, and balls, composed of material stuff and animated by love, fear, and the pursuit of happiness.

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A Good Thing about That Emoji Bible

ancient Near East, Bible, Bible and ecology, Bible translation, Blog, Ecology, Jesus, Non-human Natural World, Sex, Writing Process / kswenson

One of my favorite questions as a Bible-scholar-lady is “So, what’s the best translation?” I love this question not only because it opens the door to substantive discussion that can last for the better part of a class period… no matter how long the meeting. But I also love it because we get to talk

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Exodus the Movie, God, and the Power of Stories

Bible, Bible in the movies, Blog, movies, Supernatural, Women in the Bible / kswenson

Let me say right off the top that this post isn’t so much about the movie Exodus as it is about God… and story. Still, I should probably warn, “spoiler alert.” But the two biggies below that might preempt one’s enjoyment of the drama hardly qualify as spoilers, and they bear immediately on the whole

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300, Awesome Ancient Women, and the Perils of Historical Fiction

ancient Near East, Atossa, Babylon, Bible, Breast Cancer, Creativity, Cyrus II, Historical Fiction, movies, Persian Empire, War, Women in the Ancient World / kswenson

Here’s what I just posted on Huffington Post… and then, here’s the problem with it. Now if only there were about three hundred more 300‘s. Maybe not in blood and gore but movies with kick-ass women from ancient Persia and Greece. Then, more people would get what has so captivated me about Amytis, Cassandane, and

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A Babylonian New Year

ancient Near East, Babylon, Bible, Blog, Cyrus II, religious holidays / kswenson

And so we’re off! — 2014, a new year, ready or not. Resolutions or not, there’s something about recognizing the end of a year and the beginning of a new one that’s downright refreshing. The earliest public celebrations that we know about are Babylonian, dating back thousands of years. I’ve been spending a lot of

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Christmas, Fact and Fiction

ancient Near East, angels and demons, Bible, Blog, Holidays, Inspiration, Writing / kswenson

*A version of this article is also available on The Huffington Post. “We, three kings of Orient are,” intone the guys in robes and crowns. But were they really three, or kings for that matter, and from where exactly did they come? Every year at this time, questions about historicity – what really happened (and

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Jazz Riff on Genesis 1

Bible, Creativity, Reading, Work, Writing / kswenson

It was a great honor to be invited to give the Dillard series of lectures at Trinity United Methodist Church this year. Wow, what a turn-out! and what wonderfully warm, hospitable, and thoughtful folks I met there, people deeply invested in the pursuit of understanding, committed as much to the humbling business of query and

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A Woman, the Bible, and Babylon, 560 B.C.

ancient Near East, Babylon, Bible, Blog, Cyrus II, Historical Fiction, Persian Empire, Women in the Ancient World, Writing / kswenson

These mid-August days, some 2500 years ago, witnessed a violent turn-about in power — regicide followed by a week of king-less days. Imagine for a moment the uncertainty, the chaos. Imagine the mother of the assassinated king. Still alive, for the time being — a foreigner in a court conflicted about its cosmopolitan nature, a

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Joan Baez and Ezekiel

Bible, Life, Music, Work / kswenson

I had the wonderful opportunity last night to hear Joan Baez live in our little town. Yes, Joan Baez of anti-war, hippie-days, protest, and beautiful love fame. And she was beautiful. The place, Charlottesville’s Pavilion on the downtown mall was packed. Lots of gray heads in the crowd but not all, and everyone seemed to

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