The Exodus story, which was the basis of my Sunday reflection this week, lies at the heart of both Judaism and Christianity. But, as we've seen time and time again over the past couple of months, while Christianity presents a strong challenge to the spirit of Empire, it breaks from Exodus by not telling the … Continue reading A “Spiritual Liberation”: Does Christianity lose the plot?
Over the past few weeks, while we've been working through Paul's vision of Christian life and community in Romans 12-13, the Sunday lectionary has simultaneously been working through another story of the confrontation between God's people and Empire, that great paradigmatic story at the heart of both Judaism and Christianity: the Exodus. The part of … Continue reading The God of the Hebrews: A Reflection on Exodus 14.19-31
I recently made the comment here that Romans 12-13, in which Paul is outlining the rule of life for the household of God, is the part of Paul's writings where he sounds most like Jesus. It is a strange quirk of Christianity that its first major advocate sounds so little like the man Jesus, around … Continue reading Christ’s Gospel and the Gospel of Christ
I go for walks or runs every morning, and I'm blessed that my routes take me through a beautiful ravine system that snakes its way through my part of the city. One of the great things about this daily practice is that it helps me to notice the subtle changes in this little ecosystem as … Continue reading Wake Up Call: A reflection on Romans 13.8-14
For most of this series on Empire and Spirit, we've seen how the stories of our Scriptures and the teachings of Jesus and Paul challenged Rome's power and authority. But as I noted last week, this isn't the whole story. In that post, I looked at Jesus' famous teaching, to "Render unto Caesar what is … Continue reading A Tyrant’s Dream? (Disarming Romans 13.1-7)
