The Bible as Literature

In the Gospel of Mark, the Lord Jesus said, "Whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him." (Mark 4:25) In our consumer culture, this verse is almost always taken out of context and assumed to refer to worldly blessings: health, happiness, family, wellbeing and, of course, stuff. But in a passage where ignoring the Bible's obviou...

When hearing the parable of the sower in Mark, few people stop to consider that seeds are embryonic plants. That's right, the seeds tucked away in a box on your shelf are already pregnant. Not only does the seed contain the instructions needed to make a plant, but also an embryo which can grow into a full plant under proper conditions. In other words, the seed does what the seed does and the soil...

The proclamation of the forgiveness of sins is integral to the content of the gospel. After all, it was the forgiveness of sins that opened the path for gentiles to become children of the Bible. In the Gospel of Mark, the sharing of this news is the single priority of Jesus Christ--so much so, that Jesus is constantly on the move, teaching and preaching. With this in mind, it seems odd that Jesus...

According to Google, to rationalize is to "attempt to explain or justify (one's own or another's behavior or attitude) with logical, plausible reasons, even if these are not true or appropriate." According to Mark, people do this all the time. Is Jesus helping someone out at your expense? Explain, with logical, plausible arguments, that he is wrong. Are you trying to stop Jesus from helping others...

Human beings make decisions and take actions based on assumptions. We do so because without assumptions, we are paralyzed by complexity. In some cases, an assumption is based on data, but almost always, our presuppositions stem from innate selfishness. As Julius Caesar once said, "Men are nearly always willing to believe what they wish." Caesar himself assumed that mob sentiment would ensure his t...

We've all heard it. On every corner. In every school. At every church. There is always somebody spouting platitudes about the "dangers" of taking the Bible literally. This is usually the same person who explains that "religion is the cause of all wars," conveniently ignoring the bloodshed of the last century committed in the name of consumerism and liberal values. ANYWAYS. If only fundamentalists...

Have you ever had a ton of work to do, only to be pulled into long meetings with people who talk endlessly to avoid action? You know that feeling when you have a simple question for customer service, but the automated attendant makes you answer fifteen pointless questions, and then, when you get to a human being, they ask the same fifteen questions over again, and then, right before you finally ge...

People deal with the miracles and parables of Jesus as biblical vignettes that can be extracted from the gospels and presented on their own. Biblical scholars refer to these vignettes as "pericopes," literally, a section of the Bible that has been cut out and extracted from the narrative. The problem, of course, is that a section of the Bible, like a sentence or a single word, when taken out of co...

The fallacy of the Messianic Secret is based on a presupposition that openly contradicts the teaching of Mark's Gospel. While scholars assume that Jesus is preoccupied with his identity and secrecy, in the text of Mark, Jesus is in a big rush to preach to as many people as possible in as many places as possible and he wants his followers to do the same. He does not want them to sit around and be a...

Teaching is tedious work. No matter how many times you explain something, for every one person who doesn't get it, there are a thousand people you can't get to. It's even harder when the teaching itself is so counterintuitive that even people who think they get it have to keep relearning it. It's no wonder that people believe the New Testament is saying something new. But the New Testament is not...

Ancient religions stood on a simple premise: find a way to please the gods or face their wrath. Are you afraid of bad weather? Make a sacrifice. Worried about your family? Make a sacrifice. Afraid of impending war or plague? Make a sacrifice. Like all people in power, the ancient gods lived off the backs of their subjects. Since such gods reflect the behavior of those who make them, it's easy to s...

The first few verses of Mark’s gospel are packed with prophetic imagery. From the impossible concept of a path in the wilderness to the Baptist’s position outside Jerusalem, the Markan prologue heralds the victory of the Prophets’ teaching against human cities and the imminent inclusion of those beyond the Jordan in God’s city. Richard and Fr. Marc discuss the Gospel of Mark 1:1-8. (Episod...

The biblical system proposes hyperbole, scandal, and logical contradiction as a means to disassemble the statues and false gods we construct in our minds. At the same time, hearers of the Bible tend to rationalize these tensions away, explaining to themselves and others what Jesus "really" meant. Yes, the Bible is a language of metaphor, but on the whole—far from pacifying us—those metaphors are g...

We Christians assume that God’s love is unconditional and that it is never too late to change our ways. Although comforting, this idea contradicts the story of the Bible. Yes, it’s true, God is patient. In fact, he is so patient in the Bible that by the time you get to the New Testament, his patience is running out. In each of his letters, St. Paul repeats a stern warning: you were given an opport...

In broken families, parents complain that their children "owe" them and children delude themselves that their parents "need" them. From each perspective, the relationship devolves into extortion. A broken parent shames their child because they want repayment, "after everything [they] did for them." In stark contrast, St. Paul shames his children, not to extract worldly honor or repayment for himse...

What good would it be if a man were to ascend to the highest heaven and return with nothing to say? Would you be impressed by him? Would you brag about him to others? If so, what would you say? If this man has nothing to say about his so called revelation, what is there to brag about? I know how some of you will answer. You will talk about his feelings and the life changing wonder of having such a...

People embrace social norms in much the same way that fundamentalists embrace religious rules: as a means of self-approval. A person feigns modesty either to win acceptance or to exemplify correctness. That's why St. Paul's disciples in 2 Corinthians are so distressed by his boasting. Not only because his behavior is socially unacceptable and grossly immodest, but because in human eyes, his cause...

How can a teacher reach someone who is set in their ways or engulfed by ideology? What if the way a person looks at the world -- their unstated assumption about everything -- is backwards? Is it possible to help them reason their way out? Can you talk someone out of their own ego? According to St. Paul, the answer is no -- "we are not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the...

Unfortunately, Christians often co-opt the Bible to justify philosophical axioms, such as, "it is good to be humble," or, "it is wrong to boast;" “it is good to be nice," or, "cruelty is evil." You get the point. We take the Bible, which turns human morality on its head and we use it to justify the way that we think people should be. But in Paul's teaching, there is no "way to be." On the contrary...

Is it possible to do something good without allowing yourself to take credit? I'm not talking about haughty expressions of socially encouraged self-deprication. On the contrary, is it possible to do something good while knowing--with absolute certainty--that you are not good and that you do not deserve any credit? What is a selfless act? Some would say it is impossible. Thankfully, with God all th...

People tend to overestimate their own importance while ignoring--or at least underestimating--the value of others. This problem is keenly felt in the church at Roman Corinth, where Paul uses the success of others to realign the self-view of his disciples. Richard and Fr. Marc discuss 2 Corinthians 8:16-24. (Episode 134; 2 Corinthians 8:16-24); Subscribe: http://feedpress.me/the-bible-as-literature...

On some level, people recognize the importance of being fair. We know that our laws should treat people equally and we understand that no one should take more than their "fair share" from anyone else. From the moment we step on the playground as kids until the day we calculate our retirement pay, we live and operate in a world that frames equality in terms of reciprocity. But what if equality coul...

Life coaches love to talk about having confidence in their clients and the importance of building self-worth and self-esteem. Fortunately, for the church in Roman Corinth, Paul does not view his followers as customers and he definitely does not have confidence in them. On the contrary, Paul's boldness is in God’s teaching at work in his children. St. Paul's hope is not in the ability of his discip...

Most leaders motivate others by boasting of their accomplishments. They talk about past goals they have achieved, they reflect on how effective they were at leading others to meet those goals, they praise others for their efforts, they explain the virtue of their future goals, and they repeat the message over and over again to motivate their teams. But what if your leader only spoke of his failure...

People resolve the tension of diversity either by clinging to fundamentalism or by embracing relativism. Unfortunately, both approaches share a desire to be right: to have the right ideas, to associate with the right people, to know who is clean and who is unclean. The relativist, like the fundamentalist, is fine with "everyone," so long as "everyone" agrees with them that everything is relative....