Recent Posts

  • Still loving what we cannot save

    The only time I tried to hurt my brother—who was older, stronger and didn’t try to hurt me back because it would have been too easy—was in high school when he was living with our dad and I was living with our mom and he didn’t show up for a

  • Chagigah 11

    For the rabbis, there is seemingly no higher value than learning. But is all learning encouraged? The famous mishnah on today’s page that opens the second chapter of Chagigah warns against the study of certain subjects: One may not study (dorshin) forbidden sexual relations with three nor the act of

  • Light from Neither the East nor the West

    The Paradox of Freedom The dialectical ills we last discussed cannot be cured overnight; and in the end only Christ can cure them, who alone grounds and fulfills the analogy of freedom, showing us how divine and human freedom go together, calling humanity to follow him in voluntary obedience. In

  • Prayer ventures: Feb. 18

    Every day, Living Lutheran offers a prayer from the ELCA resource Prayer ventures, which can be downloaded here. These daily petitions are offered as a guide for your own prayer life as together we pray for the needs of the world and give thanks for the ministries of our church. Friday,

  • What Does it Mean to Know God?: Abraham’s Greatest Test

    This article is adapted from the detailed verse-by-verse commentary on Genesis 21–23 available at the Interpreter Foundation website. Readers may also consult the commentary for the Book of Moses and Genesis at Bible Central or within the ScripturePlus app. See also “Abraham’s Hebron: Then and Now, part 5: Mamre,”. Among

  • Chagigah 12

    On today’s daf, the question is: Which came first? But the subject here is not the chicken or the egg. It is: heaven or earth? Beit Shammaisays: The heavens were created first and afterward the earth was created, as it is stated: “In the beginning God created the heaven and