Your Money or Your Life
Sometimes a translation can be dramatically changed when the translator learns more about the culture in which the original events took place. Luke 20:25 is one such instance.
View ArticleA Friend of Tax Collectors
Rabbinic literature in general, both early and late, has little good to say about tax collectors, and considers them to be blatant sinners. The tax collectors spoken of in the gospels served a foreign...
View ArticleThe Wealth of Herod the Great
King Herod built on a scale that surpassed even the rulers of the Roman empire. Magen Broshi explains how this administrative genius was able to fund monumental building projects both within and...
View ArticleGergesa: Site of the Demoniac’s Healing
The recent discovery of many of the ancient harbors that ringed the Sea of Galilee is an exciting chapter in Sea of Galilee research. One of these harbors is located at Kursi, ancient Gergesa. In this...
View Article“Give unto Caesar”: Jesus, the Zealots and the Imago Dei
One of the charges brought by the high priest, Caiaphas, and his retinue, against Jesus was that he had encouraged the people not to pay taxes to Rome (Luke 23:2). It seems that the episode which lay...
View ArticleAre Christians Supposed to Tithe?
Within popular piety in America today, it is widely believed that the Bible instructs Christians, either explicitly or implicitly, to give ten percent of their income to their local churches. Pastors...
View ArticleAre There Absolutes for the Christian?
With the emphasis on relativism and situational ethics in popular culture, one might wonder if there truly are any absolutes to guide us as Christians. Perhaps we can excuse any or all behavior or...
View ArticleCall of Levi
In the Call of Levi story we learn about Jesus' attitude toward sinful persons and about his relationship with the Pharisees.
View ArticleYohanan the Immerser’s Exhortations
In Yohanan the Immerser's Exhortations John the Baptist instructs his audience how they are to behave in order to bear the fruits of repentance.
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