This Sunday’s readings—from Deuteronomy and Mark—repeat the Shema Yisrael. That proclamation—“Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our Lord, the Lord alone!”—is what every devout Jew declares every day. The ...

Instead, he reframed the entire question, offering two coequal expectations: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest ...

What is the purpose of my humanity? Many a philosopher and theologian have asked this question. Jesus Christ answered it in his own words in Mark 12:30-31: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart ...

As a pastor in the Christian tradition, I find my mind turning once again toward the language of my faith. More specifically, I’ve been thinking about how the Christian life has been anchored in what ...

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest ...

Author’s Note: Interested readers can find all previous volumes of this series here. When I started writing this study, I planned to avoid mentioning the election. Besides, my last pre-election ...

The church we go to is a part of a larger group that has the word evangelical in it's name. I've never really understood exactly what that means. I know that we never stand and wave our hands in the ...

It’s a new year, and with that comes the long-time tradition of making a list of resolutions and the relatively new advent of choosing a word of the year. Everyone’s resolutions and words are ...

During Holy Week last month, I attended a service where from the pulpit the pastor declared himself, not in so many words, a heretic. He rather gently denounced the dogmas of Augustine and embraced ...

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as ...