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Catholic

2018-09-14T03:34:22-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Kingdom of God, A Kingdom of Equals, Where Even Jesus Can Lose an Argument

Last updated on: September 14, 2018 at 3:34 am By Jack Hartjes

The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of equals. Jews and foreigners, rich and poor, women and men are all on equal footing. Jesus exhibits this reality. He raises the status of women and poor people. Disregarding his own status, he loses an argument with a woman foreigner. Twelfth in a series on “The Worldly Spirituality of Mark’s Gospel” with help from Ched Myers’ Binding the Strongman: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus. The Introduction and, looking ahead,... Read more

Gospel of Mark

2018-08-31T05:11:06-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Gentiles in the Kingdom of God. Jesus Feeds the Multitude Twice

Last updated on: August 31, 2018 at 5:11 am By Jack Hartjes

Why does Mark put two long stories of feeding the multitude into his short Gospel? There also are two long exorcism stories? Why? It may be that Jesus performed the same miracles more than once, but that doesn’t answer the question. Mark doesn’t include everything Jesus did in his story. He has a purpose beyond historical accuracy. Ched Myers argues that the point of these duplications is to illustrate the presence of Gentiles alongside Jews in the Kingdom of God. Eleventh... Read more

Gospel of Mark

2018-08-24T06:15:29-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Bishops Should Heed Call to End “Imperial Episcopate”

Last updated on: August 24, 2018 at 6:15 am By Jack Hartjes

Bishops have a lot to think about these days. Maybe they should resign as a group like Chile’s bishops. Maybe they should open up voluntarily diocesan records concerning abusive clergy as Pennsylvania’s dioceses did. (The latter was under court order.) I hope they also read this article in First Things by a priest of the Diocese of Charleston, SC. Fr. Jay Scott Newman calls for “The End of the Imperial Episcopate.” I’ll include some of Fr. Newman’s suggestions at the... Read more

Uncategorized

2018-08-25T13:26:47-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Parables, Earthly Stories with Heavenly Meanings? … Maybe Not

Last updated on: August 25, 2018 at 1:26 pm By Jack Hartjes

Jesus tells parables, stories with comfortably familiar scenes and, often, strange twists. The tendency of interpreters has been to find heavenly meaning in the earthy tones, but in Mark at least the meaning as well as the tone is quite earthly. Tenth in a series on “The Worldly Spirituality of Mark’s Gospel” with help from Ched Myers’ Binding the Strongman: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus. The Introduction and a Table of Contents are HERE. The scribes base... Read more

Gospel of Mark

2018-08-25T13:27:22-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Beelzebul — Who or What, Exactly, is in Service to this Demon?

Last updated on: August 25, 2018 at 1:27 pm By Jack Hartjes

Name calling is a favorite tactic of challenged establishments. Today you might be called a communist or (heaven forbid!) a liberal. Here the establishment figures are scribes, and the insult of the day is Beelzebul. “By this prince of demons Jesus casts out devils.” In a subtle twist Jesus turns the charge around. Once again Jesus locates the spiritual realm (here the demonic) in real-life situations of Palestinian power. Ninth in a series on “The Worldly Spirituality of Mark’s Gospel”... Read more

Gospel of Mark

2023-04-15T08:18:50-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Kneeling, Sitting, Standing, Walking – We Use our Bodies in Catholic Liturgy

Last updated on: April 15, 2023 at 8:18 am By Jack Hartjes

A Japanese foreign exchange student went to Sunday Mass with us and gave me most of the title of this piece. I asked her what it was like, and she responded, “We sit, we stand, we kneel; we sit, we stand, we kneel.” Catholic worship does tend more toward exercise than some others. Each of these postures, sitting, standing, kneeling, and walking, has its own meaning to lend to the Liturgy. Whenever I read something about postures in liturgy, kneeling... Read more

Eucharist

Liturgy

2018-08-25T13:27:39-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Twelve Apostles, Start of a Community of Resistance

Last updated on: August 25, 2018 at 1:27 pm By Jack Hartjes

In Mark Jesus does not work alone. As weak and lacking in understanding as his followers are, he needs them. He needs to establish a kingdom in this world – not of the world but definitely for the world. It will be an alternative community to the kingdoms of this world, a government in exile. To its first members he gives the title apostles. Eighth in a series on “The Worldly Spirtuality of Mark’s Gospel” with help from Ched Myers’... Read more

Gospel of Mark

2018-08-25T13:25:27-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Meals, Fasting, and Sabbath: Taking on the Pharisees

Last updated on: August 25, 2018 at 1:25 pm By Jack Hartjes

Jesus challenges the three basic elements in the symbolic order that the Pharisees cherished. Perhaps they meant well, but in effect it was an oppressive symbolic order. Seventh in a series on “The Worldly Spirituality of Mark’s Gospel” with help from Ched Myers’ Binding the Strongman: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus. The Introduction a Table of Contents are HERE. Jesus’ ministry of healing and exorcism has led to conflict with the powers that be, the way things... Read more

Gospel of Mark

2018-08-15T05:47:06-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Mark Braverman and others Urge Justice for Palestinians

Last updated on: August 15, 2018 at 5:47 am By Jack Hartjes

Dr. Mark Braverman is a Jewish American who speaks out for the rights of Palestinians and Israeli-Arab peace. A retired clinical psychologist who worked with individuals and groups undergoing traumatic stress, he has addressed the Israel-Palestine conflict full-time since 2006. That is when he witnessed firsthand the Israeli occupation of Palestine. While there, he encountering Muslim, Christian, and Jewish peace activists and civil society leaders. To this particular moment in time, this Kairos, I attribute the necessity to let Braverman’s... Read more

Uncategorized

2018-08-06T12:25:09-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Social Justice: The Challenging Symbolism of Healing Miracles

Last updated on: August 6, 2018 at 12:25 pm By Jack Hartjes

More than charity to individuals motivates Jesus to heal the sick. He challenges the purity and debt codes oppressing the poor. Today we call it social justice. Sixth in a series on “The Worldly Spirituality of Mark’s Gospel” with help from Ched Myers’ Binding the Strongman: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus. The Introduction and a Table of Contents are HERE. It’s the Sabbath, the day for preaching in synagogues, and Jesus is well aware of the rule... Read more

Gospel of Mark

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