Day 2 A colleague pointed out that listening to Quranic can be quite beautiful and, well, I had forgotten. It is indeed beautiful and I am surprised at how many words I can make out. I remember sitting in mosques in Konya hearing the imam recite the verses in a beautiful cadence. So it is […]
Day 1 Let’s get this out of the way. The Qur’an is going to take some getting used to. It’s cadence, structure, flow, and focus are quite different from the Hebrew or Christian scriptures. And that’s okay! But just delving into these first few surahs and it’s very noticeable. This also means my reflections will […]
Back in the late spring of 2007, I did an intensive study of Sufism in Turkey. We spent time in Frankfurt before moving on to Istanbul. We wound our way down to Cappadocia, eventually ending up in Konya and the back again to Istanbul. It was one of those foundational experiences for me and Turkey […]
How does one sum up a 45 day marathon of reading? I’ve spent some time reviewing all of my notes on every single book in the Bible and am left with a lot of feelings that I’m still processing. I’m now part of a very small group of Americans who’ve read the Bible cover to […]
Day 45 The journey I began 45 days ago ends here, with the Revelation to St. John. I’ll have some closing thoughts tomorrow about the entire experience, but right now, I’m wrestling with a book that is incredibly “known” in our culture, but not understood. I’m not implying I’ll give anyone any understanding of this […]
Day 44 I learned about the Epistle of James (or Jacob) from a Marxist Pauline theorist. It was great. I love this Epistle. It’s something I can read over and over. As I noted below, I find something new in it every time (or perhaps rediscover). It is the perfect book to sum up the […]
Day 43 Entering the Pastoral letters, I feel a shift in tone. These are directed to specific recipients and are encouragement in their faith. Only Philemon is undisputedly written by Paul in this collection. Nonetheless, they are interesting to soak up and wrestle with. Timothy presents troubling verses on women. Do they matter if Paul […]
Day 42 Whole lotta Paul today. To be honest, not all of these were written by Paul but are still attributed to him. The verses people often hate the most from Paul were either inserted at a later date by an unknown author or come from letters where his authorship is doubted. Anyway, I’m breaking […]
Day 41 Nope. Not one Corinthian. Or even two Corinthians. Second and first, thank you very much. I’m referring to former President Trump’s shameful attempt at pandering to evangelical Christians by citing a verse from “Two Corinthians.” They still supported him. Woe to you, Pharisees. Anyway, Paul takes on an interesting role here. While Romans […]
Day 40 Paul is complicated. And this is probably his least controversial letter, though it is the one that requires the most unpacking. His mastery of words, the law, and the emerging theology of Christianity is stunning. It’s no wonder his letters were copied and shared freely amongst the early churches. I’m less interested in […]