One God, two Testaments, and a mercy we tend to overlook Divine Violence in the Old Testament It is not easy to resist the temptation to reject the Old Testament because of its image of a God of wrath and violence, especially when compared to the God of tenderness and love in the New Testament.… Read More Is the God of the Old Testament Different from the God of the New Testament?
Exile, two schools of thought, and the theology of Genesis 1 and 2 Scholars have long noted anachronisms and stylistic and theological differences within the Pentateuch[1]. In the late 19thcentury, an explanatory model commonly referred to as the Documentary Hypothesis gained prominence and dominated biblical exegesis for several decades. According to this model, the Pentateuch… Read More Why Does Genesis Contain Two Different Creation Stories?
Theological and Non-Factual Narrative It is hard to avoid this question. In over twelve years of teaching an introductory Bible course at the university level, not a single year has gone by without a student raising this question in the very first session. Indeed, the story of the world being created in six days seems… Read More Did God Create the World in 6 Days?
Four writings that still shape popular imagination, none of which replace the four Gospels There are several genres of apocryphal writings, just like the canonical books: epistles, such as the Epistle to the Laodiceans; acts of the apostles, such as the Acts of John and the Acts of Peter; apocalypses, such as the Apocalypse of Peter; and, of course, gospels.… Read More What Do the Gospels of Mary, Philip, and Thomas and the Protevangelium of James, Actually Tell Us?
Why the apocryphal writings were not included in the New Testament canon In the New Testament, twenty-seven writings eventually came to form the canon of Christian Scripture. However, there are other writings that did not make it into the canon. These are called apocryphal texts, a term that in common usage means unauthentic or suspect, but which comes from the… Read More Has the Church Hidden Other Gospels Besides the Four We Know?
A biblical reading of Christ’s self‑emptying in Mark 15 (NRSV) One of the main interpretive keys to the Gospel according to Mark is its very first verse, an incomplete sentence that reads almost like a title for the entire work: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Mark places the… Read More What Does the Cross Reveal About God?
A reading of Jesus’s death through the fate of Israel’s prophets Did Jesus have to die on the cross? It is common, especially during Holy Week liturgies, to hear various people, clergy and laypeople, young and old, affirm the necessity of Christ’s salvific death: “Without the sufferings endured by Christ, there is no salvation,” “The… Read More Did Jesus Have to Die on the Cross?
A theological reading of Matthew 3:1–12 and Mark 1:1–8 The Gospels do not tell the same story in the same way. These differences are not mistakes, but signs of each author’s theological perspective. A clear example appears in the preaching of John the Baptist. Mark’s Perspective: No Attack on the Pharisees In the earliest account… Read More A Common Misconception: Was Jesus Really Against the Pharisees?
A reflection on John 2:13–22 and Mark 11:15–19 All four Gospels recount the episode in which Jesus drives the merchants out of the Temple. But John places it at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, whereas the Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, and Luke) locate it just before the Passion. This difference in chronology reveals… Read More The True Temple
A reflection on Matthew 5:1–12 (The Beatitudes) The Gospels are not biographies but theological narratives. Every factual difference between them can reveal a deeper meaning intended by each author. A striking example is the Sermon of the Beatitudes, found in both Matthew and Luke. In Luke, Jesus speaks on a level place (Luke 6:17). In Matthew, the setting is a mountain (Matthew 5:1).… Read More Jesus, the New Moses