I won’t pretend the weight of history doesn’t colour my reading here. So much suffering was done, and inflicted, in Christianity’s name, that it makes it hard for me to approach it w/out baggage. But I recognise that’s my lens, not the only one.

#tomholland #christinanity #personalbeliefs #morality

A prominent historian investigating the death of Jesus experiences a conversion — and a brush with the supernatural | CNN Historian Tom Holland didn’t believe in Christianity or miracles. But that changed after he wrote a book about the crucifixion of Jesus — and had a health scare of his own.

As a big Tom Holland fan, I’ll admit this one didn’t quite land for me. Though I guess that everyone brings their own lens, and enlightenment looks different for all of us.

#tomholland #christinanity #personalbeliefs #morality

Black background graphic with a small image of the title page of Theology, a Series of Sermons on the left. Beneath it: “JOHN McDOWELL (1780–1863) ‘SERMON LXXXIV’.” On the right, a long quotation condemning charging exorbitant prices for necessities, calling monopolizing life’s essentials and overcharging the poor “great oppression,” described in Scripture as “grinding the faces of the poor” (Amos 3:15).

John McDowell, #Presbyterian minister, notes in Amos that selling bread dear simply because your neighbour is poor is oppression, full stop. Cornering life’s basics and hiking the price isn’t “commerce”; it’s grinding faces. Funny how that gets mislabelled as smart biz sense today.
#christinanity