This Sunday’s readings—from Deuteronomy and Mark—repeat the Shema Yisrael. That proclamation—“Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our Lord, the Lord alone!”—is what every devout Jew declares every day. The ...

Did you know there are over 1000 “commandments” in the New Testament? That is almost twice as many as the religious Jews identified from their Torah (first five books of the Old Testament – 613 of ...

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest ...

As a pastor in the Christian tradition, I find my mind turning once again toward the language of my faith. More specifically, I’ve been thinking about how the Christian life has been anchored in what ...

The church we go to is a part of a larger group that has the word evangelical in it's name. I've never really understood exactly what that means. I know that we never stand and wave our hands in the ...

Author’s Note: Interested readers can find all previous volumes of this series here. When I started writing this study, I planned to avoid mentioning the election. Besides, my last pre-election ...

When a lawyer asked Jesus, what is the greatest commandment, He replied, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and ...

Every well-known religion humanity has devised has some edict about love. Often there are several types of love. Buddhism has love that is compassion and mercy, benevolent and sensual. Islam has God ...

Once again, the Pharisees want to trap Jesus. Matthew 22 is full of controversies. After opening with the parable of the wedding feast and the man without a wedding garment, there follow four separate ...