A Top Ten Book for Parish Ministry in 2015, Academy of Parish ClergyThe Old Testament can seem strange and disturbing to contemporary readers. What should Christians make of Genesis 1-3, seemingly at odds with modern scientific accounts? Why does the Old Testament contain so much violence? How should Christians handle texts that give women a second-class status? Does the Old Testament contradict itself? Why are so many Psalms filled with anger and sorrow? What shou...

Historically, many churches and theologians defended and supported race-based slavery and subsequent forms of racial hierarchy and violence. The essays in Reparations and the Theological Disciplines argue that it is urgent that the theological disciplines engage the issue of reparations by revisiting Scripture and our theological traditions. The time is now for remembrance, reckoning, and repair.

The basic message of the Bible can be understood in any language. At the same time, many biblical texts are hard to understand because they don’t quite make sense when translated into English. Something is missing. Quite frequently, what readers miss has been lost in translation. Maybe there is a pun or wordplay in the original. Sometimes names like Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, and Eden just seem like names to us but have meanings that are essential to the story. Many Hebrew words have multiple ...