In her recent publication, Kaitlin B. Curtice explores how showing up as our authentic selves and questioning larger cultural norms is a lifelong path of resistance. Her work deeply resonated with me, as I am in a season of re-evaluating how I show up in the world. How has fear been my motivator instead of love and belonging? In what ways can I...

“Joash remained hidden for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.” The Hebrew Bible records an astonishing thing: a woman ruled the southern kingdom of Judah for six years after her husband and son died (2 Kings 11 and 2 Chronicles 22-23). Athaliah is portrayed as something of a villain in these narratives, perhaps a counterfoil to...

With Mother’s Day this past weekend, I spent some time reminiscing on the last 22 years as a mother.

We all have certain expectations in life. We imagine things going a certain way, but often, circumstances turn out much differently than we imagine. This is pregnancy in a nutshell for me. I became pregnant with my first child five months...

View the video of Melissa Ramos as a featured guest on The Two Testaments Podcast: Two Testaments.

Dr Ramos discusses the covenant ritual of Deuteronomy and the curses in chapters 27-29. In this video, she discusses:

the relationship with ancient Near Eastern rituals
the stones as witnesses to the covenant
the tribes’ roles in the...

As we are in Easter Season (the seven weeks between Easter Sunday and Pentecost Sunday), I have been reflecting on the new covenant depicted in Hebrews 9-10 and its connection to the earthly tabernacle described in Exodus 25-31. In what ways does religious architecture mediate contact between the deity and the people? How do these passages bear...

The past several months, I’ve been circling round and round the idea of bearing witness. What does it mean to bear witness? Do we only bear witness to sorrow and grief? Or do we bear witness to one another’s joys and longings and delights, too? What makes it possible for us to bear witness in some circumstances and not others? If...

Artwork by Harlem Renaissance painter, William Johnson

When we endure suffering, to have someone truly see, and to remain with us in the midst of it, is a powerful thing.

Life and living is a joyful thing, and we celebrate that during Holy Week. The season of Easter arrives in the midst of blooming flowers, the sparkle of the sun on raindrops...

We all have desires within that we hold close; often forming a complex, private world hidden from others. There is a tension created in these intimate desires between wanting and satisfaction. Are we willing to take the actions necessary to make our desires a reality?

Although the majority of the Hebrew Bible is concerned with male-oriented...

Book Review by Melissa Ramos

A significant new book by Amy Peeler (Eerdmans, 2022) makes the case that the God of the New Testament values women. Peeler focuses her work on the extraordinary claim of Christianity that the son of God was born of a woman and explores how these narratives from the Gospel texts affirm the value...

Can you pinpoint the current season of your life? When life is moving along smoothly and you are coasting through each day, you probably don’t even think about the seasons. However, when you are wintering, you are acutely aware that something is amiss. 

Katherine May defines wintering as "a fallow period in life when you're cut off...

This week's blog features artwork by Madison Horton. The piece featured above she has titled "Bath Jephthah" in honor of the biblical narrative of Jephthah's daughter in Judges 11. We had the opportunity to interview Madison about her reflections on the crafting of this painting and about art as a form of biblical interpretation. 

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Last week we discussed the thinking of a few Western philosophers on the mind/body connection. These men siloed the mind from the physical body, which has influenced our present day fragmentation of the self.

Since the physical body and the mind are NOT meant to live in isolation of one another, what are some practical ways we can integrate the...