Reading and hearing the Gospel of Mark 4:35-41 Reading the Gospel aloud invites the audience to experience human encounters with the divine as revealed in the Bible.  We can leave interpretation and meaning to members of the clergy and other scholars. What we are most interested in as lay readers is the human experience found…

In Book Six of his Confessions, St. Augustine recounts coming upon St. Ambrose sitting quietly by himself, reading a book and “not even moving his lips!” As if this was some sort of dramatic innovation in reading for the 4th-5th century AD. Apparently, it was common practice at the time, even when reading alone, to…

This passage from Mark is taken from the revised common lectionary provided by the Vanderbilt Divinity Library. The text is from the NRSV. You can hear a recording of this passage here. Reading the Gospel aloud invites the audience to experience human encounters with the divine as recounted in the Bible.  We can leave interpretation…

Emily M.D. Scott is a Lutheran pastor who published a thoughtful article in the NYTs: The Bible’s #MeToo Problem, June 16, 2018. The article recounts her own encounter with the story of Dinah, daughter of Jacob from the book of Genesis, as well as other “almost unreadable” acts of aggression and violence against women described…

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