We all live each day with a certain amount of grief simmering under the surface. It is there, even if we fail to acknowledge its existence. Not just the grief associated with losing a loved one, but also the ambiguous grief. That one mediocre grade that kept you from your dream school, the friendship that ended abruptly, the realization that you...

How do you feel about dedicating periods of time to renewal or rest? Do you intentionally take extended periods of time to rest? Choosing to rest is so counterculture, isn’t it? I am a productivity junky. I often don’t feel like I have had a great day unless my to-do is crossed off. I get a dopamine hit every time I cross something...

Ritual is bad and faith is good, right?

I grew up in a very Calvinist Christian tradition in the Presbyterian Church, and we were always concerned about empty rituals. My earliest experiences with the word “ritual” were not positive. It was associated with empty actions and just going through the motions and was contrasted with a...

Netflix recently released a new crime docuseries that chronicles the the lives of former members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Church (FLDS) Church in Short Creek, Arizona. This extremist and fringe polygamist community is not recognized as part of the LDS, or Mormon, Church and is led by “the...

My son Lucas graduated from High School last week. It was a celebration. I haven’t been in a crowded setting like that or seen so many flowy sundresses in ages. The energy was palpable. We were there for a common purpose and that fostered a community spirit. I met more new people there than the last two years combined. People were open to...

Have you ever read the Bible and suddenly felt that an old friend was a perfect stranger? This happens to me all the time. Just when I think I know the Bible, I read something I didn’t know was in there. This is kind of embarrassing to admit because I’m a Bible scholar and an ordained pastor. If anyone should know what’s...

I teach a course on growth mindset and neuroplasticity to college students. Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to form new neural pathways, either by creating new pathways, or altering existing ones. We used to think that our brains' neural networks were highly adaptable in childhood, but then became more rigid in adulthood. Now we...

I teach general studies religion courses and for the past few years I have started classes on prophetic literature and wisdom literature by asking students a series of questions, including: What is your earliest or most vivid memory of the Bible? and What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament?

For...

Last week’s blog introduced the topic of an embodied God. I noted a dichotomy between anthropomorphic descriptions of the divine, which can be found in the Talmud and the Midrash, and later interpretations that insisted that the divine was transcendent. It is precisely this tension that gives the God of the Hebrew Bible a vibrant persona,...

How did the ancient Israelites glean their understanding of the divine? How was the God of the Hebrew Bible characterized? Theologians and scholars have long interpreted the God of the Hebrew Bible as multifaceted and complex. These complexities are not mere inventions of scholars, but have their roots in the text themselves. In some instances,...

Names are important. In the book of Genesis especially, names are often playful puns. 

Names

The name Adam (adam/אדם) in biblical Hebrew is a pun on the word adamah (אדמה) for land, soil, or ground. The name Eve (heva/חוה) is derived from the verb “to live, to be alive.” Likewise the name Abram is derived from av meaning...

So...I recently found myself conversing with my five year old about jeans.

It all started when my favorite pair of jeans sprang a leak.  In an effort to explain why I was so upset about it, I told her, “Good jeans are supportive and sturdy. They never pinch. They don’t hurt your stomach when you sit down. And they get softer and...