Sandmel responding the 19-20th century portrayals of 1st Century Judaism quips, “it is always called ‘arid and dry’ never one or the other, always both ‘arid and dry’. Bible scholarship has tended to lean on the words of Jesus and the words of Paul to develop a picture of 1st Century Judaism. The resulting portrayal […]
For about two thousand years, the cultural narrative about the Jewish people was that they were rejected by God and could do no right. For the past two hundred years, the Christian church has begun, in some quarters, to promote the idea that Israel is God’s chosen people and can do no wrong. While this […]
In the last week as I have watched and prayed and cried regarding things in Israel, I could not help but think of John’s closing vision in Revelation. Here are two sections of that vision: “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride […]
This weekend I recorded a song I wrote about 35 years ago. It is a near word for word account of a conversation with a woman who immigrated from Europe to small town New England, where she grew old but never felt accepted. It is the sort of conversation I have had many times since. […]
From the years 1985 to 1990, I spent hours a day performing music in Harvard Square and in the subway stations of Boston in Cambridge. I wrote a lot of songs during that time in part so I would have new things to play. A lot of these songs I never recorded, others I never […]
If Matthew chapters 1 and 2 are an encapsulation and re-enactment of the drama of the Old Testament, Matthew 3 begins where the Old Testament left off. John the Baptist is the promised Elijah who would warn the people before the “great and terrible day of the LORD.” (Malachi 4:5) The elements of Malachi 4 […]
The entire argument of Libertarianism is built on assumptions about motives. The argument runs- people only do things out of self-interest. Therefore, people will only elect people from whom they stand to gain, and politicians will do whatever they need to stay in office. This locks them in a mutable indebtedness to, the politician must […]
A great example of double speak is that of the “Right to Work” states. Interference in the “free market” is perceived by libertarians anything that challenges the right of the wealthy to their wealth. This is way they can run on “tax breaks” but only give them to the wealthiest while raising them on the […]
The reliance of the Virginia School upon the Mont Pelerin Society and the work of F. A. Hayek, and Milton Friedman reveals the depth of its foundational false dichotomy, “Should government control markets or should markets control the government?” Uncontrolled government places political power and public decisions into the hands of the politically connected. Uncontrolled […]
One of Libertarianism’s key ideas is ‘freedom of choice’. School choice in particular reveals that this idea is rooted in the ideal of keeping races separate and controlling who gains the benefit of the states tax revenues. This came to the fore in the issue of Brown vs. the Board of Education which declared that […]
