Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian

Bible

Select a Category class warfare evangelicals Iraq Left Behind Mammon music Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003

December 2014

December 29, 2014

The Bible is clearly ambiguous, but not that kind of ambiguous

The problem is not that the Bible is lacking in clear, definitive, categorical statements. The...

December 18, 2014

The Bible used to get a lot of things wrong

If those early Southern Baptists were wrong about slavery, then they were wrong about the...

December 13, 2014

Smart people saying smart things (12.13.14)

Randi Harper on online abuse; Chris Rock on the whiteness of Hollywood; Damaris Zehner on...

December 10, 2014

Ignorant Christians need to STFU about ‘the poor you will always have with you’ until they can be bothered to understand what Jesus actually said

"Do not show ill will toward the needy and give them nothing. They may then...

December 04, 2014

Evangelical biblicism is a new(ish) thing

The first-century disciples at Pentecost and in the generations that followed were not Bible Christians...

November 2014

November 20, 2014

Proverbs and fart jokes and other ancient wisdom literature

You have to read Proverbs with the other biblical "wisdom" books in mind. It's part...

November 10, 2014

‘God hates shrimp’: Picking and choosing among abominations

The key thing to notice when asking this question of white evangelicals in America is...

November 09, 2014

‘God hates shrimp’: A case study

The function of that argument is purely internal. It's not an attempt to persuade others....

November 06, 2014

‘God hates shrimp’ is a question. That question needs an answer.

If we are to be "Bible-believing" Christians -- people for whom that scripture is, in...

October 2014

October 30, 2014

Indiana Jones, the Antichrist, and Hell

The stories in the text provide the basis for other stories about those stories, and...

October 09, 2014

‘Because of the angels’

This verse seems, today, to be absurdly impenetrable -- a biblical madlib in which any...

September 2014

September 21, 2014

Qoheleth and the ‘Third Way’

We need other options if we want to escape from the miserable binaries that Qoheleth...

September 12, 2014

Again, ‘liberal theology’ is not theology as done by people with ‘liberal’ politics

I did not become an LGBT-affirming Christian because of some scholarly research on the best...

September 05, 2014

The broken promise of biblical ‘inerrancy’

This same pattern is repeated wherever any group of "inerrantists" gets together and claims that...

August 2014

August 28, 2014

Chemtrails & Creationists: ‘Biblical inerrancy’ as conspiracy theory

"Inerrancy" is a kind of conspiracy theory. In this framework, theologians and biblical scholars are...

July 2014

July 21, 2014

Love and justice are what give us ears to hear

Let me revisit what I'm trying to say in the previous post -- "Without justice,...

July 21, 2014

Without justice, we’re not reading the same book

We will never produce justice as a result of better biblical understanding unless we also...

July 18, 2014

Learning to walk without gravity

Some late-Friday stuff, including: How "love for Israel" can be a kind of anti-Semitism; worshipping...

July 09, 2014

Whatever happened to the clobber texts for slavery? (Unlearning the lies, cont’d.)

When we see this text on the home page of this blog, we will know...

June 2014

June 17, 2014

‘Ambiguity proposes, preference disposes’: We have to choose

To read the Bible is to interpret the Bible, which is to say it requires...

June 17, 2014

Smart people saying smart things (6.17)

Dr. Jen Gunter responds to the odious George Will; Marika Rose on women in systematic...

May 2014

May 15, 2014

‘Biblically correct in every way’

News item: "Tim Chey, the director behind the upcoming big-budget 'David and Goliath' film, told...

May 15, 2014

Looking for the answer in Orion: More Mondegreenage

When we get to a relatively risk-free subject like mondegreens, we enjoy the chance to...

May 14, 2014

There’s a bathroom on the right: Mondegreens and the Bible

Mondegreens occur when both of those factors are present -- both the acoustic fragility that...

May 14, 2014

‘God and the Gay Christian’ — live webchat today at noon

Matthew Vines is speaking truth to power and so, naturally, tribal gatekeepers are responding by...

April 2014

April 26, 2014

There are more clobber texts about Canaanites than there are about gays

"You shall annihilate them, the Canaanites, just as the Lord your God has commanded." Jesus...

April 18, 2014

Good Friday and Western Civ. 101

The frustrating thing here in Luke is that we're told Jesus had a longer explanation,...

April 10, 2014

Matthew 18 abuse needs to stop

Matthew 18 has become a refuge for scoundrels. Yes, Jesus taught us to forgive one...

April 09, 2014

Pay attention to how people describe the Bible

If you want to understand the ongoing "battle for the Bible," then you need to...

March 2014

March 18, 2014

White evangelicals getting ready to rewrite the Bible. Again.

It has happened before and, as Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux shows, it is happening again. History will,...