Author A Distant Echo
In this study, we are considering the theme of exile and return across the Christian Scriptures. We will start at the beginning of the promise of to Abram that he would be the father of a great nation, a nation… Continue Reading →
A central theme across the canon of Scripture — and even the message of Christianity more broadly — is the repeated concept of Exile and Return. The undesired deportation from apparent prosperity, away from the fertile Eden into the dark… Continue Reading →
A recent comment caught my attention: ‘Such-and-such a book is worth getting because it doesn’t assume a late date for Daniel.’ This is certainly not the first I’ve heard such a suggestion, nor will it be the last, but I… Continue Reading →
Like so many events in early Christianity, the development of the commemoration of Jesus’ birth is largely unknown. Its relative unimportance is even suggested in the Gospels where Mark((Probably. There are some suggestions that Mark as we currently have it… Continue Reading →
Tom Wright recently (2020) published a new popular text entitled, Broken Signposts: How Christianity Makes Sense of the World. Wright’s discusses seven innate longings of the human race which he sees as indicators (or ‘signposts’) pointing away from the world’s… Continue Reading →
Taking time to read the Scriptures can be challenging — our day already feels too busy, and when we finally do have a few minutes alone (perhaps rising before the break of day or well after the final pink and… Continue Reading →
Previously, we considered the first part of 1 Peter 5.13, arriving at the tentative conclusion that ‘she’ or ‘the one’ (ἡ) likely refers to the church. Let’s remind ourselves of the Greek: ἀσπάζεται ὑμᾶς ἡ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι συνεκλεκτὴ καὶ Μᾶρκος… Continue Reading →
The letter of 1 Peter concludes with a rather cryptic circumlocution: ἀσπάζεται ὑμᾶς ἡ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι συνεκλεκτὴ καὶ Μᾶρκος ὁ υἱός μου. Roughly translated: “She/the [feminine] one in Babylon greets you, and also my son Mark.” Does this verse in… Continue Reading →
Prologue Another one from the scribbles of decades past. Rest Only comfort of weary nights, Days of endless dispassioned flights, Toils and troubles so cloak my sight, Burdened, helpless to face the fight. What is rest? God promised the Israelites… Continue Reading →
Prologue I wrote a lot when I was younger — all sorts of stuff. I rather wish I had assigned a date. Anyway, it makes for interesting reading while poring through old files and folders. Recently, I found this. Some… Continue Reading →