I offer a few observations and reflections from the past week, I recommend Seth Dowland's fascinating book, Family Values and the Rise of the Christian Right, and I talk about the Household Code in Ephesians 5-6 as an instance of how modern Bible readers can misread an apparently clear passage when they don't understand ancient and modern historical contexts.

I reflect a bit on evangelical faulty logic that keeps us from loving our neighbors, I talk about a wonderful resource for understanding Mark in its Jewish context, and I conclude my series on Mark's Gospel.

I talk about the statement issued by SBC seminary presidents rejecting Critical Race Theory and why that signals a resistance to the difficult but life-giving work of gospel-oriented justice. I also talk about Beth Allison Barr’s upcoming book, The Making of Biblical Womanhood, which is a brilliant analysis of how evangelical patriarchy uses the Bible to endorse gender hierarchies that the gospel deconstructs.

I offer a few reflections and observations from the past week, I recommend Luke Timothy Johnson's new book on Paul's letters and theology, and I talk about the narrative dynamics of what is going on in chapter 14 of Mark's Gospel.

I talk about some events of the recent week, along with offering a few other random thoughts, I recommend Scot McKnight's book, Reading Romans Backwards, and I explore some of what is going on in Mark 13, which has huge implications for being Christian while a pandemic is raging.

I share some thoughts about the bizarre nature of the past week, I commend Esau McCaulley's excellent new book, Reading While Black, and I talk about some of the narrative dynamics of Mark 11-12.

I share some reflections from the past week's events, respond to an interesting question about relating to God, talk a little about Grand Rapids Theological Seminary where I teach, and I draw out some of the narrative dynamics up and running in Mark 8-10.

I reflect a bit on events of the past week, I recommend Jill Lepore's excellent and insightful work, These Truths: A History of the United States, and I talk about the narrative dynamics of Mark 4-8.

I recommend Jeannine Brown's excellent new book on the Gospels and I continue talking about the subversive Gospel of Mark, focusing on how Jesus's parable of the sower and the seed in 4:1-20 sets the table for the rest of the narrative.

I talk about Matthew Avery Sutton's brilliant book, American Apocalypse, which is now the standard work on the history of modern fundamentalism / evangelicalism in America, and I start a series exploring Mark's mystifying and thoroughly unsettling Gospel.