Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward, Chuza, participated in a three-day drama that changed the world. On the Friday of Passover, she, along with other women, witnessed Jesus’s Crucifixion and death, even though the eleven disciples were nowhere to be found. With that group of women witnesses, Joanna followed his body from the cross to his…
Category: Main Essays
Essays are longer posts on topics relevant to the Images of God Project.
Early Christian missionaries Junia and her partner Andronicus traveled, like Paul, starting congregations and witnessing to Christ. According to Paul, they also served time in prison with him, likely because of their missionary work. We are not sure how literally to interpret Paul’s comment that they are his kin in one translation or his relatives…
In only 24 words, we learn that Lydia was from the city of Thyatira (an ancient Greek city in Asia Minor), believed in God, and dealt in purple cloth. From other sources, we know that Thyatira was home to a significant Christian church as well as known for its dyeing facilities, which would relate to Lydia’s…
In one of the more dramatic scenes of the Passion, Jesus stands before Pontius Pilate, who is about to determine Jesus’ fate. Pilate has a tradition of releasing one prisoner at Passover. He offers to release Jesus, but the gathered crowd wants to release Barabbas, a notorious prisoner. While Pilate considers his options, he receives…
The Bible is sprinkled with fascinating, sometimes courageous, occasionally dynamic women and you may have never heard of them. Through my new blog series, I will cover a multitude of these women, and their stories, to better familiarize you with the often forgotten ladies of the bible. Meet Anna, an old widow who lived in the…
Anna the First Christian Prophet An old woman who lived at the temple in Jerusalem became the first Christian prophet. After praying and fasting in the temple for decades, she recognized that the baby presented by Mary and Joseph was Jerusalem’s redeemer. Anna saw Jesus on the day his parents took him to the temple…
Let’s talk about metaphors. You might not have thought about metaphors since the last time you took an English class in high school or college. The discussion was likely regarding something in a poem. In case that was some time ago, here are some examples of metaphors: Conscience is a man’s compass. Vincent Van Gogh…
Discussions about speaking rightly of God and images of God often have political undertones and sometimes have political lines drawn in the cosmos. As we will see in future posts, liberal or conservative labels are regularly attached to the conflicting viewpoints. That is an unfortunate path to take as it limits our ideas about God,…
What is the right way to speak about God? Theologian Elizabeth A. Johnson asks the question in her book She Who Is. It is a profound question for all Christian believers. The ways we speak about God influence our images of God, our beliefs, our theology. Many, if not most or even all, believers seek to emulate…
Some feminist scholars and theologians were deeply engaged in discussions about the feminine face of the divine by the mid-1970s, but little of the conversation reached members in the pews. Thus, it was surprising to discover that the Lutheran Church in America (a predecessor of the ELCA 1) had published a collection of essays in…