Introduction Ben Sira was a wisdom teacher in Jerusalem in the late third century through the early second century B.C.E., and Sirach, the collection of his teachings, was composed sometime between 190 and 175 B.C.E.[1] As a member of those… Read More ›
Introduction Jeremiah 11:18–12:6 is regarded as the first of Jeremiah’s confessions, which are spread throughout Jeremiah 11–20.[1] In this text, Jeremiah laments his suffering, which is caused by the people of Anathoth in response to his prophecy. This text describes… Read More ›
Introduction A study of the frequency of the phrase “speaking in tongues” in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians suggests that the phenomenon was significant in the Corinthian churches. The New Testament (NT) has thirty-five references to “speaking in tongues.”… Read More ›
Everything They Owned Was Held in Common The Gospel of Luke provides a view on wealth that is unique in the Synoptics through a description of the practices of Jesus and his disciples, and extended teachings on wealth that are… Read More ›
Introduction When I was a young girl, I often lost treasures precious to me, such as beads or small pebbles. I was so eager to find them that sometimes I even searched in a closet for them; despite my fear… Read More ›
Introduction For almost a half-year, I lived in Hong Kong off a road that was lined with prostitutes each night. Three things always shocked me as I would walk home on my street: 1) There seemed to be more and… Read More ›
Note: This essay is a revised version of the presentation I delivered during the Colloquium on Violence and Religion held in Saint Louis University on July 8th-12th, 2015. This essay aims at scrutinizing the interpersonal relationship between Saul and David in… Read More ›
1. Introduction The rhetoric of the marginalized … demonstrates that … the ‘humblest’ do not only ‘stand forth’ in order to persuade; by persuading, they are also ‘standing forth,’ assuming agency.1 These words of Jacqueline Bacon aptly capture… Read More ›
Matthew 20:1-16 (the Parable of the Prodigal Employer) Matthew 20:1-16, often called the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, is placed at the center of Matthew’s three episodes where Jesus teaches about “the last being first and the first… Read More ›
Introduction Once again, an Indonesian man with a white bandage on his ring-finger came to my office where I was volunteering as a labor-counselor at the Galilee Presbyterian church in Seoul, Korea, back in 2005. ‘No, please do not uncover…’… Read More ›
