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Bishop William Meade, a pro-slavery preacher, may be my ancestor. My novel, Neither Slave nor Free, alters that shameful family story.

What circumstance gave rise to the New Testament letter to Philemon? Was Onesimus a fugitive slave? Find answers here.

After five years and four months of work, my historical novel manuscript is complete! Read the story of how it came to be.

The 2022 GoodLit Writers Retreat was full of rich experiences, but best of all was joining that special community of writers.

James Lord's portrait of Alberto Giacometti helps understand artistic restlessness and discontent.

Jesus's ministry of liberation is critical context for interpreting five problem passages on slavery in the New Testament.

Hebrew actually and logically speaks of the past as what lies in front of us so that we can see it and of the future as what lies behind...

Philemon is the shortest of Paul’s epistles. Although even identifying the subject matter of the letter is controversial, readers...

Washington Black suggests we should oppose racism not because it's morally wrong, but because we care about those who suffer from it.

After a year of research and just under two years of writing — early mornings, late nights, and everything in between — I’ve finally...

The following is an imaginative fictional account of Zechariah’s experience in the temple (Luke 1:5-20). I suggest reading the passage of...

So much for weekly word counts. In any case, still feeling good about my progress. Day by day, staying in the chair. At this rate (~220...

Rain pelted the windshield of Marcie’s fifteen-year-old sports car as she turned into the driveway of the subterranean parking lot. Some...

Progress on the first draft of my novel is feeling fast and furious. I think I’m around half way there. And the story is so fun right...

Walter returned from the bathroom and struggled to remount his barstool. He gripped the bar with both hands, threw one pudgy leg onto the...

Momma threw the first handful on the coffin, and then we all done the same. Black dirt. Just like the coal. There we were, throwin’ dirt...

In recent posts (e.g., here and here), I’ve been writing about the authorship of the Gospels, and the degree to which Gospel content may...

Lately, I’ve been thinking about what, exactly, the message of the gospel is. Of course, the term ‘gospel’ means “good news.” The puzzle...

In this post I conclude my case for the traditional view that the author of the Gospel according to Matthew (“Matthew,” or the “first...

Last time, I looked at the going theory of how the three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) were composed. I did this to lay some...