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Project Evangelism: Allowing the “Other” to Minister to Us
Yesterday I visited Manhattan’s combined LDS Temple and Morningside Heights Ward service with IkonNYC’s Evangelism Project. The Evangelism Project is a year long experiment where members of the group...
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Russell Brand Interviews the Westboro Baptist
Occasionally I like to post songs, video clips, or articles that make me stop and think. This week I came across Russell Brand’s interview with the Westboro Baptists, and I was struck by two thoughts:...
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Inhabiting the Desert: Unearthing Racism in the Formation of the State of Israel
As a student at a Jewish seminary, yet married to a pacifist, and a friend to a few Palestinians, I am inundated on all sides with varying rhetoric concerning the current conflict in the Middle East....
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Confessions from a Mormon: All We Need Is Love
I recently asked a few of my more left-leaning Mormon friends this question: ”Why are you a member of the LDS faith? And how do you approach beliefs, in any form or fashion, that don’t completely line...
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“Christmas Unicorn”- Sufjan Stevens
After listening to this Christmas song released by Sufjan Stevens, I was struck by a few lines: 1. “I’m a Christmas Unicorn! In a uniform made of gold” 2. “Oh I’m hysterically American! I’ve a credit...
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Should Everyone Really Read the Bible?
A Harlem School. I remember my days as a graduate assistant, spending hours toiling over my students’ weekly papers, jotting grammatical instructions and probing questions in the margins. It was a New...
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Celebrate Christmas but Keep Isaiah Out: Matthew’s Gospel and Jewish Exegesis
During my two years as a graduate assistant, the paper assignment that caused my students (and me!) the most headache was called “Context is Everything.” In this assignment we asked the students to...
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Noah’s Ark and Flooding Waters: The Great Need for the Bible to be True
Recently, the famed Titanic discoverer Robert Ballard claimed he has evidence supporting the biblical flood account in Genesis. According to reports, Ballard and his team uncovered an “ancient...
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Santa Isn’t Real: Learning to Discuss the Bible with Wisdom
Once upon a time I took a biblical Aramaic class at a local seminary. Consequentially, much of our time was spent translating portions of the book of Daniel. One day, forgetting I was the only...
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Blog Milestones: A Reflection
Over six months ago, I began this blog. I had just graduated with my Masters, moved to the Big Apple, and I was ready to put my theological and academic thoughts on the virtual table. As I sat poised...
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New Year, New Posts: Suggest a Topic!
Sometimes we all need to escape. Sometimes the world presses us so tightly, and the glimmer of a holiday shimmers so brightly, that we run to embrace the solace of solitude. These past few weeks I...
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Tzedakah: What Jewish Charity Teaches a Christian
As the waning sun signals the inauguration of Shabbat, many Jewish children approach the family pushke, or charity box, in order to drop in their metallic coins with a ritual “clink.” Images of these...
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Church Denominations: Love ‘em, Hate ‘em, Why Do We Need Them?
I grew up in a non-denominational church. Then at the age when I was just beginning to form some idea of “Baptist” “Methodist” “Presbyterian,” my family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, a state where I...
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Tony Jones is Right: Ex-Fundamentalism and Meanness
Photo by Courtney Perry used with permission. Tony Jones, in his recent post “Being Dumb Is Bad; Being Mean Is Worse,” calls upon Christians to consider their use of satire and humor when coping with...
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Conversion Stories: Finding “Earthly” Religion in Judaism
This year I’d like to bring a new feature to the blog in the form of Conversion Stories. Personal conversions explore the dynamic crossing of belief and practice, skepticism and acceptance, identity...
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White Male Privilege: Why I’m Scared of the Witch Hunt
I remember one pivotal class in my graduate school experience. I was a young Jewish studies graduate student, sitting in my Jewish Environmentalism class, and I had stopped to engage a classmate in...
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Scriptural Reasoning: Reflection on a Night of Interfaith Dialogue
This week I participated in the first of many “Scriptural Reasoning” meetings in NYC, engaging sacred texts with Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the model developed by Dr. Peter Ochs. Scriptural...
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Lessons from the Seder: The Belief of Memory in the Communion Story
I remember early on in my academic career when I was startled by a revelatory statement. I was sitting in my advisor’s office, attempting to understand Jewish interpretations of the Exodus, naively...
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Jewish Justice: A Christian Learning from Jewish Responsibility
I was sitting in my Talmud class this week, debating the intricacies of privilege and power in the seder ritual, when my professor interjected this statement: “Jews and Christians have a lot to learn...
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Jewish Oral Law: Building a Fence Around Torah
You’d be surprised how often I meet someone who when hearing what I study asks, “What is the Talmud? Mishnah? Midrash?” Or maybe you yourself are unsure, and so you may not be all that much surprised....
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