In our last post, we discussed the Rev. Franklin Graham’s negative attitudes toward same-sex relationships, especially in the context of his criticisms of Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg and Graham’s use of Bible verses to support his stances. Here we will outline some of the scholarly research concerning same-sex relationships in the early church (from […]
The Rev. Franklin Graham, son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, has recently been in the news for lambasting Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg for being gay. The younger Graham follows in his father’s footsteps in regarding homosexuality as a sin, something to be repented of. According to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), of […]
On this Thanksgiving weekend in the US, let us try to find things (and people, of course!) for which we are thankful. Living a life of gratitude is good for our health! Prayer for Thanksgiving Day (Book of Common Prayer, modified) Almighty and gracious God, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth […]
As we saw earlier, Mary Magdalene is a figure in the New (Christian) Testament of the Bible worth considering by us moderns. She is significant, in part, because she is so prominent in the canonical Christian texts: she appears numerous times in the New Testament and in all four gospels: Mt 27.55-56, 61; 28.1; Mk […]
Thank you as always for checking in with WisdomWordsPPF! Here is a guide to the past year of blog posts (note that some posts appear in several categories). If you want a guide to the first year (October 2015-October 2016), you can find it here, and a guide to the second year (October 2016-October 2017) […]
Most of us know the tragic story of the ancient town of Pompeii, located 150 miles south of Rome and 16 miles from Naples. One of the many good histories about Pompeii and the volcanic eruption that buried it in 79 CE, killing 2,000 people, can be found on the History Channel website. Fewer of […]
The domain name “.BIBLE” has essentially been hijacked by the American Bible Society (ABS). This problem is not just a technical issue of interest only to people who care about the Bible; it touches on how the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) assigns domain names, how the designated organizations manage the signing […]
Here are some offerings I would love to bring to your (New England or Albany, NY) venue. 1) Chant workshop. In many of my blog posts, I have mentioned my background as an Episcopalian and my association with the Society of St. Margaret in Duxbury, Massachusetts. I have recently developed a workshop, mainly but not […]
As we have noted elsewhere (HarvardX course, the SBL Annual Meeting and Scripture translation), religious literacy among Americans is sorely lacking. This is significant for several reasons. Misunderstandings caused by this absence often lead to conflict between people of different faiths and, at times, violence, injury and death. The gaps of knowledge in media stories […]
Last year brought yet another extremely disturbing statistic: 2017 marked the highest increase in antisemitic incidents in the US since the first Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents was taken in 1979. In a statement, Jonathan A. Greenblatt, CEO and National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, stated, “A confluence of events in 2017 led to a surge […]