Julia M. OBrien

A new movie opens today.  Entitled "A Serious Man," it's the biblical story of Job told through the eyes of Joel and Ethan Cohen.  According to the New York Times review, it's one of the Coen brothers' darkest comedies-- both "hilarious and horrific."

Do you have trouble staying asleep?  Doze off just fine but in a few hours find yourself wide awake, ready for conversation, a little TV, maybe a snack?

According to William Holladay, you're in good company.  You may be experiencing what ancient people knew well: segmented sleep.

Another reason to read the Old Testament: the power of its big ideas.

In an earlier blog, I suggested that the Old Testament is important for more than just providing background. Why else should people read the OT?

A lot of folks treat the Old Testament as "background" reading for something else.  For Christians, it's treated as the prequel to the New Testament, the part you have to read in order to understand the stuff you want to read. Who is Melchizedek and why does the book of Hebrews link him to Jesus?  Why was circumcision important to Jews of the first century?  What does atonement mean?  What's a covenant? The Old Testament offers the answers for the New Testament reader who wants to know.

The pope’s comments during his recent visit to Israel spurred a reader of the website to ask me this question:   “Why would the pope support the creation of a Palestinian state, since the Bible claims that God has given the Holy Land to the Jewish people?”

I thought others might be interested in my reply.

It sounds so simple, doesn't it?   Since the Bible insists that God promised land to Abraham's descendants, and since Jews are descendants of Abraham, then obviously Israel always and only belongs to Jews.

But the issue is far more complicated than such a simple formula implies.

My main complaint about The Shack is that it isn't very interesting as a story. The book starts out well enough, with an interesting (if disturbing) plot, and I find myself wanting to know what has happened to Missy, the main character's daughter.  I am ready for characters to be developed, details to be filled in, the mystery to be solved.  I am ready for something to happen. 

It’s almost a consensus among scholars (if such a thing is possible) that the concept of resurrection is absent from most of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible (OT/HB).  The consensus goes something like this: