Jesus at 2AM - A Humorous, Intelligent Look at the Bible, Church History & the Life of Faith

To a church facing persecution and fearing abandonment, John describes the vision granted to him of the heavenly throne room. God sits in ultimate glory – suddenly placing Roman imperial power in cosmic perspective – and holds in his right hand the plan for the consummation of the age. The scroll he holds is sealed with […]

Interpreting the book of Revelation requires we first understand the genre of "apocalypse" (from Gk. apocalypsis: "to reveal" – as in a secret, or in pulling back the curtain on a stage). Though it feels quite foreign to us, it was a well-known form of literature in the ancient world, particularly within 2nd Temple Judaism. The […]

While the early decades of the church's history were hardly easy, they were nevertheless filled with optimism: Jesus was risen! But…, as the decades passed, questions about Jesus's delay began to mount. And with the disastrous events of 70 AD (the destruction of Jerusalem, the fall of the second Temple and the massacre at Masada), things changed dramatically. By the mid-90s, Roman persecution would rise again (having done so once before – under Nero in the 60s) and force the church to reflect on how to carry on her mission amidst a very uncertain future. It is out of these events – and the call to live faithfully through them – that John received his vision. And it is only by grasping the historical context behind the book of Revelation that we can interpret it correctly.

No biblical book inspires a broader spectrum of interpretation than the book of Revelation. Filled with symbols that range from multi-headed dragon to streets of gold, from doomsday battles and the mark of the beast to the New Jerusalem, the Apocalypse (literally the "revealing") is meant to guide the church in the last act of […]

Paul's teaching on the role of wives and slaves in the Christian household are among the most (tragically!) misinterpreted passages in scripture. In this episode we examine the tension between ideals and reality, between what is ultimately true and how close (or not) we can approximate it at any particular moment in time. As […]

If, as Paul argues, salvation is by grace alone (a gift of God and not achieved by any act on our part), what does that imply for Christian ethics? Can we therefore "sin boldly" — indulge our impulses and enjoy the party…? I mean, if all is forgiven in the end, why not make good […]

Every philosophical and religious tradition has a view on the requirements of membership – what it takes to belong to the community of "salvation." In early Judaism, for example, membership within "true Israel" belonged to those who were at least: descended from Abraham, circumcised (men), obedient to the food laws and observant of the Sabbath. For […]

What happens when you take people from different geographical regions, religious traditions, languages and cultures and tell them they are now "one in Christ" – the family of faith…? As anyone who has ever sat in a church committee meeting will tell you, the answer is: arguments! Since there has been church, there has been […]

If confessing the full divinity of Jesus, or God who is simultaneously three Persons in one, strikes you as quite an intellectual stretch, know that you are in excellent company! After all, it is one thing to regard Jesus as a great religious teacher, a political leader or perhaps even some sort of (human) messianic figure. […]

Every Sunday Christians all over the world gather to sing, pray…listen to (a brilliant!) sermon… Styles may vary, but the pattern and basic content is stunningly consistent. The question for today is: Why? What are the origins of Christian worship? Why these particular elements? And how do we know if we are "worshipping correctly"? Can […]