What Schwehn has done in this book is to drastically reimagine Jesus’ story and insert Salome into it for his whole childhood, up until the start of his public ministry. Needless to say, in what I am going to write, be warned that spoilers will appear.

Each modification of the hymn serves to amplify the Jewish identity of Jesus, and the varied metaphors speak to God’s redemptive work through Israel, extended through Christians. Joslyn-Siemiatkoski encourages us to “imagine the redemptive landscape as not linear but looping and intertwining...."

Thus, I suggest that this Advent, we work on our personal transformation—relying for this not just on ourselves, or even our political leaders, but by turning to God in prayer. Perhaps our transformation won’t be as dramatic as Augustine’s, but by practicing our transformation, perhaps we can open ourselves to the grace for a more dramatic change.

I am part of a community of practice called “Food, Faith and Farming”. These friends helped me think through the ideas around liminal space and gardening. I credit them for their wisdom. The season of advent is one I look forward to every year. In the dreariness of late November into December in the northern hemisphere, this liturgical season reminds me to stop, open my eyes, open my ears, wait and watch.

This past weekend, I attended the annual conference for the American Academy of Religion in Boston. I was grateful to attend a panel discussion titled “The Difference the Resurrection Makes” featuring Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas as one of the panelists. Oddly, in the midst of the panel, I found myself thinking about the recent adaptation of Frankenstein. I read Mary Shelley’s…

Thanksgiving is weeks away, and food banks are in crisis mode as record numbers of families face the effects of delayed SNAP benefits, rising cost of living, a government shutdown, and an uncertain economy. More than 40 million people rely on SNAP benefits to put food on the table, with the majority of recipients being children and the elderly. The halt in SNAP benefits abandons our most economically vulnerable members of society.

The following is an edited excerpt from a sermon I preached at 6:45 AM ET on May 25, 2025 at my home church in Philadelphia, PA. five months later, the sentiments remain relevant. Be blessed. "So, let us now turn to the word of God. Scripture: Hosea 4:1-6a NIV: my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Prayer…

In the reality shaped by secularity and close proximity of diverse traditions, cultures, and faiths, Christian Nationalism (CN) has challenged the existential question of belonging in America. Running at the core of CN is endogamy, in this case, ethnic purity. It means to show disgust toward exogamous changes, not only biological but also cultural. Disgust, ironically, illustrates fear of the very thing one is disgusted by.

A year ago this month, I moved house, and found myself the keeper of a vine. I say keeper, not owner, because of the responsibility and relationship involved—topics I bring to this writing. As I’ve tended to it, relaxed or sheltered under it, and now harvested fruit from it, I’ve found myself returning repeatedly to vines in the New Testament, and what this meeting point between past and present can teach me about my faith in action.

I feel like I need to start this review with a disclaimer. I am a book purist. I am one of those people who has read the book and complains about all the ways the movie adaptation is not faithful to the book. And so, there was lots of things about A Most Useful Betrothal by Netta Fei (Vide Inc, 2024) that I found infuriating.

"Don't go chasing waterfalls" sang TLC in 1995, the chorus of which has been running through my mind this week. You see at the start of the week I had the opportunity to visit Bua Thong Waterfall in Chiang Mai, Thailand, also known as the 'Sticky Falls.' They get the name sticky falls becuase the rich calcium mineral deposits on the rocks mean that you can climb up the waterfalls, and climb I did.

When I was younger, my mom loved taking us on summer road trips. Once we picked a destination, we’d log into the computer, and enter our starting point and endpoint into MapQuest (there’s a throwback!). Then we’d print out a set of turn-by-turn directions—hoping we wouldn’t miss an exit along the way. I remember one trip in particular when the directions led us face-to-face with a big orange “Road Closed” sign.

The tension between Hagar and Sarai was palpable. The animosity started once Hagar became aware of her pregnancy with Abraham’s child (Genesis 16:4). Abuse entered the scene, resulting in temporary estrangement. God intervened to mediate the conflict between Sarah and Hagar, and Hagar returned to the household. Hagar is expelled again, this time with her young son (Genesis 21:10). Estrangement in families often unfolds in this way: gradually through small fractures, yet it feels sudden to the one who is forced out.

A Conversation About Relationship Recently, a student said to me, “I’m having a hard time with the Trinity.” I smiled, as this is probably the most common response to this lesson. Let’s face it. The Trinity is a complex doctrine, and it is actually really hard to understand. But the student continued, “It just seems to me that if God is Triune, and therefore is in relationship with Godself, then God doesn’t need us, and I really don’t like that.”

It’s time—that dreaded week that comes around once every three years, when preachers who follow the Revised Common Lectionary have to face Luke 16:1–13 and the Parable of the Shrewd (or “Dishonest”…

One of the most striking things about George C. Adams, Jr.’s recent book, Thinking About Religion in the 21st Century: A New Guide for the Perplexed, is its attentiveness to the needs of potential readers. In the first pages, Adams acknowledges that given the abundance of spirituality-oriented books that address the notion of an evolutionary shift from an outdated mode of spirituality and consciousness to something new and revolutionary, one could argue that there’s not much more that can be said on the matter…Nonetheless, this book does have a unique objective, in that it attempts to examine these issues in a manner that is likely to be positively received by a broader audience.1…

Why is the Church with a capital C across Catholic and Protestant reluctant to innovate? Does it resemble destabilization or a betrayal of something powerful, perceived as divine truth? Throughout history, the Church has regarded “change” as disquieting and even idolatrous. This posture assumes what the Church has already discerned contains all the truth there is ever to discover, eternal and unchanging.

What do you do with all the grief? How do you hold your community’s grief, the world’s grief, your own body’s grief? Womanist theologian Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney explains: « In the ancient Near East there was a profession that was passed down from woman to woman…They were trained and paid to perform the public ritual of funerals; they were funeral directors and grief counselors.

Such was the manner in which most cases of clerical misconduct, as well as cases of sexual abuse in secular settings, were handled during this era. This dynamic became particularly evident in cases involving adult women where they were shamed for "allowing" the abuse to happen to them instead of exploring the power dynamics that permitted those like in power, such as ordained clergy, to misuse their pastoral authority in pursuit of their own needs.

Many young people in China have turned to their “inner bird” to escape hustle culture. According to the New York Times,1 some young people in China are pretending to be birds to deal with work and academic pressure, among other challenges. The trend offers a break from “being human” when the future feels uncertain. The bird trend is relatively small by China’s standards; however, thousands have participated, posting pictures of themselves wearing an oversized shirt that covers their arms and torsos, legs hidden, and hands sticking out like claws.

At WIT we are happy to announce that we have six new regular contributors joining the blog!

I was recently at the International Society for Biblical Literature (ISBL) conference in Uppsala, Sweden and I heard some one proclaim, "I would be happy to travel anywhere in the world except Australia. Becuase they have spiders and snakes and all things that will kill you." And it is true that we have deadly snakes and spiders and other animals, but I can't remember the last time I saw a snake and I don't think I have seen a red-back spider in real life.

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a seminar focused on interfaith teaching. At one point, the facilitator emphasized the importance of both change agents, those who seek to innovate or transform, and tradition agents, those who preserve and transmit long standing beliefs and practices, in service of the common good. Most often, I operate as the former, a firm believer in remaining open to and taking seriously new knowledge to refine my religious and ethical perspectives.

What does Jesus' dead body, hanging on Calvary's cross mean for social justice in our world?