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. …
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 …
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 …
The following meditation on our relationships with animals, the strange expression “to be at the mercy of,” and what the notion of “dominion” may mean when it comes to the animals who live with us just appeared also on HuffingtonPost. I wrote it on the occasion of my old pound hound’s death. Sweet Trout is …
There’s a new game in town. Finally, a video game based on biblical, or sort-of-biblical, stories. Bible-reading folks frequently say that there are really great stories in the Bible; but what they usually mean is that its stories instruct, correct, or otherwise inform the ways that people should live. Sure, there are such didactic texts; but …
Despite a common assumption that the Bible is all sweetness and light, filled with upstanding moral models for individuals today, it doesn’t always translate so neatly. After Adam, the next father is one who murdered his brother. There’s Noah’s drunken nakedness whose story involving his sons ended up endorsing the slavery of Africans, Abraham’s near sacrifice of …
I participated in my first “crop mob” yesterday at Bellair Farms (CSA). If you’re already lost — what’s a “crop mob” and what is “CSA”? — you’re not alone. Both are pretty new ideas out of the old world of agri-culture, sustainable and sweet. First, CSA: It stands for “community supported agriculture” and is a way …
What do you make of that post-Flood biblical statement about animals living in dread of humans (Gen 9:2)? I love Charles Shields’ take on it — “to mean that we must overcome animals’ dread of us.” It reminds me of the Oct 2010 National Geographic article on Jane Goodall by David Quammen. Now there’s a beautiful life spent not only disarming animals but also dignifying …
I remember when King Tut was all the rage — the impressive displays of luxury items from Tut’s tomb, the mummy himself, “Walk like an Egyptian”… Well, he’s back in the news, this time in a most 21st century way. This time archaelogists with their cool cool stuff and rugged outdoorsy romanticism aren’t the prime movers. Rather …
Word has it that the Good Word is jumping on the vampire bus. For all sorts of reasons, it’s not as great a leap as you might think — more on that later… Meanwhile, here’s the scoop: Will Smith as the lead in The Legends of Cain a re-telling of Genesis’ story of the first kids, …
