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Articles on Old Testament

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Charlton Heston as Moses in the biblical epic The Ten Commandments. Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Who wrote the Bible?

The Bible remains the most important collection of books in Western civilisation. Regardless of our religious beliefs, it has shaped all of us. But who wrote it? The answer is complicated.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, accompanied by Patriarch of Russia Kirill and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (in background), at a monastery outside Moscow in 2017. Alexey Nikolsky/AFP via Getty Images

Russian church leader puts the blame of invasion on those who flout ‘God’s law,’ but taking biblical law out of its historical context doesn’t work

The Bible and its laws were complex and not practiced in the way many of us think about laws today.
Religious services through Zoom: A pastor conducts online services from the basement of her home in Falls Church, Virginia. Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

COVID-19 has shone a light on the millennia-old balance between public and private worship

During the pandemic, the practice of faith has moved to being a more personal one for many. A scholar of the Judeo-Christian tradition explains how tragedy often resulted in private piety.
Painting depicting transfiguration of Jesus, a story in the New Testament when Jesus becomes radiant upon a mountain. Artist Raphael /Collections Hallwyl Museum

The long history of how Jesus came to resemble a white European

Recent protests on racial justice have also questioned the portrayal of Jesus as a white man. An art historian explains how this image appeared and came to be marketed worldwide.
A studio group portrait of the Fisk University Jubilee singers. James Wallace Black/American Missionary Association

The power of a song in a strange land

Spirituals were created out of the experience of enslaved people in the US. They weren’t songs of anger – but of an abiding belief in the victory of good over evil.
A new Trump ruling will prohibit virtually all Central American migrants from seeking asylum in the United States. AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

The Bible says to welcome refugees

Scripture strongly and unequivocally affirms the obligation to treat strangers with dignity and hospitality, says a Christian scholar who turns to the Bible for guidance on Trump’s immigration policy.
A mourner reads a sympathy card left for Anthony Bourdain at a makeshift memorial in New York. AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

Why religions of the world condemn suicide

Most religions have a fundamental belief that all human life belongs to God.
Polygamy advocate Brady Williams talks with his five wives during an interview at their home in a polygamous community outside Salt Lake City. AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File

Explaining polygamy and its history in the Mormon Church

Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism, taught that a righteous man could help numerous women and children go to heaven by being ‘sealed’ in plural marriage. Norms have been revised, but tensions remain.

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