The Rooftop in Joppa and the Politics of Fear

Peter had the vision on a Joppa rooftop and ate with Cornelius. So why did he pull back from the Gentiles at Antioch? The politics of fear in first-century Judea.

The Window in the Wall: Paul and the Ancient Motif of Escape

A basket, a window, a city wall. Why Paul's escape from Damascus deliberately echoes Moses, Rahab and David.

The King, the Basket, and the Desert Escape: Paul’s First Bounty

Before Jerusalem, before the apostles, Paul spent three years in Arabia and made an enemy of the King of Petra. Why he left Damascus in a basket.

The Man with Camel's Knees: James the Just and the Power of Jerusalem

He knelt so long on the Temple pavements that his knees grew calluses like a camel's. James the Just and the authority that made Peter change his seat.

The Crisis of Zeal: Why Paul Had to Go Back to Sinai

Paul's zeal had failed and there was a bounty on his head. So he followed Elijah's map into the desert, back to the mountain where the covenant was given.

The Gate Is Still Open: Neilah and the Doors of Nicanor

A bone box found in 1902 named the man who made the Temple's bronze doors. The last service of Yom Kippur is named for the moment they closed.

The Emptiest Room in the World: What the High Priest Found Behind the Veil

A rock three fingers high, two crimson threads and a room with nothing in it: what the Mishnah says the High Priest found on Yom Kippur.

What it Means to "Choose Life"

Moses set life and death before Israel. Two thousand years later we are still sifting the ash of the choice Jerusalem made.

The Magic Words: How Paul Escaped the Roman Whip

Bound for the scourge inside the Antonia Fortress, Paul stopped it with one legal question.

The Paving Stone That Proved the Bible: Paul and the Treasurer of Corinth

A single line of greetings at the end of Romans turned up under a paving stone in Corinth in 1929.