by Chris Wiles | Mar 8, 2012 | Faith
His whole life had been defined by distance. He was an “outsider,” they told him; a Samaritan. To this day he still couldn’t remember all the reasons why he and the Jews would never really get along. “Unclean,” they said, not because of anything he’d done, but... 
by Chris Wiles | Mar 7, 2012 | Faith
The Pharisees were some of Jesus’ most fierce opponents. They appear in every gospel, and rarely in a positive light. The word “Pharisee” didn’t refer to an occupation – it referred to an ideology or a set of beliefs, like the way we might use “republican” or... 
by Chris Wiles | Mar 6, 2012 | Faith
In the first century, paralysis rendered you wholly dependent on others for…well, everything. So you can imagine that even family and friends were weary of having to tend to his needs, and would have jumped at hearing that this gifted healer named Jesus was teaching... 
by Chris Wiles | Feb 24, 2012 | Faith
The following story is, obviously, fiction. It’s a conversation that might have happened if the events of the early church had happened in our culture. Luke was the author of one of the four gospels, which tell the story of Jesus, and the sequel book called Acts.... 
by Chris Wiles | Jul 3, 2010 | Life
It’s not at all uncommon for churches to observe the Fourth of July. Today, I passed a church building whose grounds were lined with American flags. Yet such practices have increasingly come under fire as some form of political idolatry. Scot McKnight addresses...
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