How Many Fruit Are there?

Are there twelve fruit of the Spirit or only nine? Most contemporary translations of Galatians 5: 22-23 list nine fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (NIV, for example). 

However, some older manuscripts of the Bible list more than nine...

Awe is a central facet of human experience, an emotion that grounds us and helps us feel connected to our aliveness, to others, to the world we inhabit, and to the divine. Women play a crucial role in recognizing and commemorating experiences of awe, both individual and collective. Dacher Keltner, who researches wonder and awe at the Greater...

“On this last darkest day of the year,” sings Ann Reed, “let our hearts meet.”[1]

Tomorrow the days will start to lengthen. Today I am reflecting on the complexities of darkness and what this darkest day of the year might reveal about hope.

This time of year seems marked by both connection and isolation, despair and hope....

The birth of Jesus is narrated as a wondrous spectacle full of supernatural events featuring a cast of implausibly interconnected characters from disparate social locations across a wide geographic span. Angels with shocking proclamations to a pregnant virgin and to shepherds! Wise men from the East following a mysterious star in the night sky!...

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...