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Catholic

2022-08-17T06:01:42-06:00

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.

Temptations in the Desert –the End of Luke’s (Second?) ‘Introduction’

Last updated on: August 17, 2022 at 6:01 am By Jack Hartjes

Sixth in a series on social justice in the Gospel of Luke. It’s standard to see Luke’s “Infancy Stories,” Chapters 1 and 2, as an introduction to the rest of the Gospel. That rest, then, gives us Jesus “public” life, beginning with his baptism and some temptations in the desert. But the New American Bible calls Chapter 3 “The Preparation for the Public Ministry.” I think of this chapter as a second introduction or a continuation of the first. There... Read more

Politics and Religion

Luke

Social Justice

2023-02-13T08:18:44-06:00

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.

While Debt Sinks Nations, Some Hear Jesus’ Call for Jubilee

Last updated on: February 13, 2023 at 8:18 am By Jack Hartjes

Last Sunday, the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, I paid special attention to the reading of the Gospel from Luke. For churches, like mine, who use the common lectionary, the Gospel selection features Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry. In the synagogue at Nazareth he was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He read a passage, set the scroll down, and said, in essence, “This is a time when everyone who is in debt gets to start... Read more

Luke

Social Justice

2022-08-17T06:06:35-06:00

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.

Poverty and Power – Messiah’s Story Has Two Visible Contexts

Last updated on: August 17, 2022 at 6:06 am By Jack Hartjes

I suppose I ought to say that the two contexts of Jesus’ ministry on earth were sin and grace. But from the beginning of Luke’s Gospel, which I’m following in these posts, what we see is poverty and power. Needless to say poverty and power were not evenly or fairly distributed in Jesus’ world (or any that I know of). What did that mean for Jesus and the evangelist Luke? Jesus’ concern was the Kingdom of God, but Christians have... Read more

Politics and Religion

Luke

Social Justice

2022-01-09T07:26:02-06:00

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.

Ministries in the Church, Momentum for Change, Again

Last updated on: January 9, 2022 at 7:26 am By Jack Hartjes

It was 1980 or a year or two later, and I was making a decision that caused me some pain. I was teaching in a Catholic elementary school. My children went to Catholic elementary school. We were strong Catholics. And I was deciding not to encourage my son to become an altar server. With a new name, acolyte, that and lector were two roles that the Second Vatican Council a decade and a half earlier decided were lay ministries. It... Read more

Liturgy

2022-08-17T06:15:39-06:00

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.

God’s Army: Jesus Appraises Two Volunteers and a Recruit

Last updated on: August 17, 2022 at 6:15 am By Jack Hartjes

In Luke’s Gospel three would-be followers of Jesus find that they have to pass a test to qualify for that position. Their stories in Luke 10:57-62 feature three of Jesus’ odder sayings. They range, seemingly, from just puzzling to unduly harsh to downright mean. It sounds like Jesus is giving these potential members of God’s army the brushoff. Why? This post follows Kenneth E. Bailey’s answer to that question. Third in a series in which I investigate social justice in... Read more

Relationships and Religion

Luke

Social Justice

2022-01-05T07:57:36-06:00

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.

God’s Army: Jesus Appraises Two Volunteers and a Recruit

Last updated on: January 5, 2022 at 7:57 am By Jack Hartjes

Luke

Social Justice

2022-01-03T10:58:57-06:00

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.

Introducing John Howard Yoder, ‘The Politics of Jesus’

Last updated on: January 3, 2022 at 10:58 am By Jack Hartjes

“The Politics of Jesus” by John Howard Yoder first published in 1972 greatly influenced subsequent Christian ethical thinking, especially with regard to social justice. (Image credit: Eerdmans Publishing Company) In The Politics of Jesus John Howard Yoder aims to reorient the ethical teaching of the churches around the words and deeds of Jesus. That seems odd. Haven’t the churches always inculcated the moral teachings and example of Jesus? Not really. (See Postscript at the end of this post.)... Read more

Social Justice

2023-02-13T08:19:40-06:00

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.

Cancel culture, Karens, Restorative Justice, and a Prostitute in Luke’s Gospel

Last updated on: February 13, 2023 at 8:19 am By Jack Hartjes

“Jesus was not about social justice.” “The Gospel of Luke is a social justice Gospel, but the Gospel of Mark not so much.” But I have written 23 posts in a series on social justice in Mark’s Gospel! So much for “Jesus is not about social justice.” But now Luke beckons, and I have been wondering where to start. I guess, start where I am, and just now I’m with a New York Times article on cancel culture. Cancel culture... Read more

Luke

Social Justice

2023-02-13T08:20:18-06:00

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.

God’s Favor (in the Angel’s Song) Rests on … Whom?

Last updated on: February 13, 2023 at 8:20 am By Jack Hartjes

Luke’s Gospel gives us a translation puzzle that has been solved to my satisfaction and that of most Bible scholars. The traditional “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” is out. Newer translations replace it with “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (New American Bible) This is one of my favorite Bible passages. I add it to my praying of the Rosary... Read more

Advent Christmas

2023-02-13T08:21:33-06:00

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.

Does Copernicus Have to be Wrong? Or, How the Bible Likes Modern Science

Last updated on: February 13, 2023 at 8:21 am By Jack Hartjes

What Nicolai Copernicus said is right. Earth revolves around the Sun, along with all the other planets. After Copernicus, Galileo said the same thing and, more or less, proved it with his telescope. Earth is not the center of the universe. (See this post for a couple reasons why Galileo got in trouble with the church and Copernicus didn’t.) Copernicus needs no defense today, but in this post I want to make an unusual claim. The Bible, as the Catholic... Read more

Bible

science

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