By E. Elizabeth Johnson

The Scriptural focus here is on the different endings of Mark’s Gospel that have been hotly debated since the Second Century CE or before. The author offers a convincing argument that the implications of which ending is used is significant for preachers and scholars.

By Joseph V. Crockett

The author contends that the report of the demise of the Mainline Church is premature and inaccurate. To the contrary, he sees growth in some sectors. His article also offers pastors and other church leaders strategies for growth.

By Stephen Reed

In a dialogue between Jesus and the Sadducees we learn that they did not believe in the resurrection. One might think that we should use only the New Testament when we want to preach and teach about resurrection. Still, New Testament writers do use resurrection language from Old Testament texts.

By Kimberly S. Credit

While we tell the intricate details of the Christmas story about the birth of Christ, when it comes to Resurrection Sunday, we only shout about Jesus being raised from the tomb, hardly ever explaining just what that means for humanity.

By Thomas Boomershine

This article gives ideas for presenting the Bible orally to familiarize worshippers and clergy with Scripture, helping them to learn how to make the Spoken Word more interesting and relevant to both those who proclaim and to those who hear the Word.

By Uriah Y. Kim

When preparing sermons on King David, preachers over the years have pored over every detail of David’s life and every trait of his character to expound lessons and examples for believers to learn and imitate.  Lessons, examples, types, or symbols become even more apparent when King Saul is introduced as David’s foil.  In this article I examine David and Saul in their “multi-people” environment so that we can appreciate some characteristics of their leadership that are useful in our multicultural context.

By Wanda Lundy

This revealing analysis of Jacob’s night alone at Peniel gives preachers added avenues as to how to use this familiar and dramatic story for prophetic preaching and interesting teaching.

By Efrain Agosto

The author explores the question of who became leaders in the churches founded by Paul and what was the social status of those leaders with respect to the strict, hierarchical social structure of Greco-Roman society. Like Jesus, Paul selects leaders from among those whom he serves. He expects them, as he does of himself, to serve even to the point of risk and sacrifice.

By Joseph Crockett

Bible engagement is an intentional, goal-directed activity. As language shapes an individual’s thought categories and empowers him or her to transcend those categories, engagement with biblical narratives involves social processes that can build and transform character. Individuals and communities have the capacity to be informed by the Word and the narratives of Judeo-Christian faith traditions—to become like Christ.

By Harriet Hill, with Peter Edman

The focus here is on the crisis barriers that severe trauma constructs between victims and an encounter with God’s Word; and how the project of American Bible Society, She’s My Sister, helps these people learn that crimes committed against them do not bring them shame and shows them how to be set free from their pain.

By Walter Brueggemann

The ancient memory of Jubilee is very odd. The term “Jubilee” is from the Hebrew YBL, “trumpet.” When the “trumpet sounds,” debts are forgiven and property is returned. These actions are not undertaken out of an emotional “rush,” but “on signal,” under discipline, in response to a regular communal expectation.

By Marie Dennis

At the heart of the Judeo-Christian tradition lies a vision that deserves continued probing as we settle into the new millennium. In religious circles for the past few years much has been said about the need for “Jubilee.” In fact, Jubilee images have animated a spectacular global movement that made progress toward debt cancellation real for some of the world’s most impoverished countries.