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 / By 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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The Radical Vulnerability of God

Holidays, Jesus, Non-human Natural World, Peace, religious holidays / By kswenson

As far as religious paradox goes, the radical vulnerability of God has got to take the cake (or the stollen, the bunuelos, the figgy pudding, the buche de noel, the truchas de navidad…). As I’ve lost my grip on all the other Christmas traditions still dear to me — the weekly advent services leading up; …

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Rembrandt’s Face of Jesus

Bible and Pop Culture, Jesus / By kswenson

The gospels say almost nothing about what Jesus looked like. Some days ago, I mused here on the matter of Jesus’ “second coming.” I threw out the thought: why should Christians (believing Jesus to be God) presume that Jesus should be limited by anything, even including human appearance? Yet we often get most excited about determining …

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Second Coming, all the time?

Bible, Bible and Pop Culture, Future of faith, Jesus, Uncategorized / By kswenson

What if Jesus has already come back or is even coming back all the time? That the first generation of Jesus’ followers expected the Parousia or “second coming” during their own lifetimes is certain. They were sure, based on Jesus’ teachings and their own, first-hand knowledge of him that it would happen. At least that’s how the …

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The Bible, Natural Disasters, and Suffering

Bible and ecology, Bible and tragedy / By kswenson

Does the Bible have anything to say about Japan’s devastating earthquake? Because I wrote about biblical responses to pain some years ago, people occasionally ask me what the Bible says about natural disasters. It’s discomfiting — not the question (it’s a good one, and I’m happy to discuss it), but the absence of a single …

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Jesus and Groundhog Day

Bible and Pop Culture, religious holidays / By kswenson

I love the movie Groundhog Day. It’s such a great story about redemption, and I for one, an accomplished bumbler, would love a few do-overs to get things right. Besides, the film’s hilarious. I might have guessed that it would have some sort of religious theme to it, but until recently, I didn’t imagine that Punxsutawney Phil and …

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Forgetting… and Remembering

Animals, books, Food, Writing, Writing Process / By kswenson

Living as a nomad, it was bound to happen: I left my computer behind. Bouncing between cities (two) and offices (four) as I’ve done the past semester, I rely on THE LIST — things to do before leaving the house (empty the kitchen compost, e.g.) and things to bring (er, that’d be the computer, e.g.). The list works great… if …

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No Fishing in the Sea of Galilee

Bible and ecology, Bible in politics, Food / By kswenson

The storied “sea” (actually a freshwater lake) where Jesus performed miracles among its fisher-folk and from which Jesus called his disciples to become “fishers of men” is now off limits. Galilean fish stocks are so depleted that Israel has instituted a ban on fishing there, in effect for two years, in the hopes that that piscis population …

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A Gospel Easter

Biblical Literacy, Jesus, religious holidays / By kswenson

This essay first appeared in the Fredricksburg Free Lance-Star on April 4, 2010. Of all the Christian holidays, it’s Christmas that gets the most attention. And can you blame us for that? Light and life in the dead of winter, gifts galore, and cookies to boot — no wonder it’s a favorite. Yet Easter is the …

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Jesus and Punxsutawney Phil

Bible and Pop Culture, religious holidays / By kswenson

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