Because Jesus Choosing Male Disciples Doesn’t Mean What We Think….
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Because Jesus Choosing Male Disciples Doesn’t Mean What We Think….

ByBeth Allison Barr

In fifteenth-century England, a (probably Franciscan) friar lived on the east coast near the cathedral city of Ely. Like many other medieval sermon authors, he included in his Lenten series a narrative from Matthew 15: the story of the Woman of Canaan. I have talked about this story before, and I am sure many of…

Resurrection Hope For Notre Dame
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Resurrection Hope For Notre Dame

ByBeth Allison Barr

“a fire burnt the whole parish of St. Alkmund’s starting at daybreak on the eve of Pentecost….anno. 1312.” I was in a meeting with my fellow graduate deans when I first saw the pictures. My colleague just handed me his phone. He said something, but I don’t remember his words as the image drowned out…

Who Defines Preaching Anyway? Beth Moore and Catherine of Siena
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Who Defines Preaching Anyway? Beth Moore and Catherine of Siena

ByBeth Allison Barr

I usually never read comments on my blogs, much less respond to them. But one recently caught my eye. It was posted on a twitter thread following a tweet by Katelyn Beaty about my last AB article posted by Scot McKnight on Jesus Creed (sorry, the social media world can be a confusing place…). This…

Disrupting Our Nativity: Two Medieval Differences
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Disrupting Our Nativity: Two Medieval Differences

ByBeth Allison Barr

I love nativities. Every Thanksgiving my mother gives me a new nativity set to display. She gets them from the local Fair Trade store, so we now have scenes crafted by artisans in Kenya, Indonesia, Haiti, Guatemala, Vietnam, Peru, Nicagarua, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, as well as the United States. The clean lines and naked…

Why Evangelical Christians Are Afraid of Halloween
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Why Evangelical Christians Are Afraid of Halloween

ByBeth Allison Barr

We carved pumpkins again this year. I still had to clean out the insides, but this time my daughter carved the triangle eyes. I had to help with the teeth. My son opted out of carving entirely, aside from helping keep our Whippet from eating the pumpkins. He claims he doesn’t like the icky feeling…