1. Hosea While only the first three chapters of the Book of Hosea are clearly autobiographical, his prophecies furnish a great deal of additional information about him. The story of Hosea and Gomer, of course, presents a tantalizing and ultimately insoluble puzzle. Did Hosea seek out a prostitute in order to dramatize his message? Did he marry a "good girl" who deceived him and eventually became a...
As death drew near for a seventy-year-old man, a cousin was heard to say to his wife, "Don't worry, Agatha, it seems dark now, but in time you'll see the light at the end of this tunnel." Some use another cliche, "It's always darkest before the dawn." These are not helpful statements. And Agatha, about to become a widow, simply sighs and says to herself, "No one understands." It may have seemed to...
Introductory Note "Thomas the Doubter" is obviously an Easter sermon. However, for Christians every Lord's Day is Easter, because ours is a Resurrection faith. Without the Resurrection, we have nothing distinctive -- for our own comfort and growth or for a world in pain. In "Thomas the Doubter" I hazard a hypothesis about Thomas' life prior to his meeting Jesus. The hypothesis seems fairly plausib...
