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David Lose
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David Lose is the author of the popular books Making Sense of Scripture, Making Sense of the Christian Faith, and Making Sense of the Cross. You can find his daily Bible devotions and articles on connecting faith and daily life at his blog "...In the Meantime." David is the Director of the Center for Biblical Preaching at Luther Seminary where he also teaches with amazing students and colleagues and, once upon a time, served as Academic Dean. David led the creative team that developed Working Preacher where he writes a weekly column on the upcoming lectionary texts. David speaks throughout the U.S. and abroad on preaching, leadership, Christian faith in a postmodern world and biblical interpretation. But his favorite thing to do is hang out with his family in St. Paul, Minn., where he can play tennis, cross-country ski, mourn the fate of the Vikings, or get wrapped up in a game of Settlers of Catan with his kids.

Blog Entries by David Lose

Is the Christmas Story Trustworthy?

(370) Comments | Posted December 21, 2012 | 11:38 AM

They're almost becoming a Christmas tradition. The billboards erected by atheists challenging the Christmas story and Christian faith, I mean. The one in Times Square this year reads, "Keep the Merry" underneath a picture of Santa Claus, and "Dump the Myth" below a statue of a crucified Jesus....

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What the Bible Says - And Doesn't Say - About Women

(654) Comments | Posted September 22, 2012 | 9:02 AM

The Bible is notoriously hard on women. From seemingly attributing humanity's fall into temptation to Eve in the beginning of the Old Testament to barring women from certain leadership positions late in the New, the Bible is shaped through and through by the patriarchal culture from which is sprang. While...

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Was Jesus a Jerk?

(784) Comments | Posted September 6, 2012 | 7:01 PM

Pious readers encountering this question may be shocked or offended. (Perhaps the impious as well!) And to tell you the truth, I had a hard time framing it this way myself, as it seems to border on being disrespectful, even unseemly. Yet that's the question that kept coming to mind...

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Is America a Christian Nation?

(189) Comments | Posted July 3, 2012 | 12:39 PM

Believe it or not, this is a more complicated question than one might imagine.

On the one hand, those who argue against the proposition point to several key pieces of evidence. First, many if not most of the Founders of the country cannot be described accurately as Christians but as...

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Do Christian Denominations Have a Future?

(285) Comments | Posted June 22, 2012 | 12:28 PM

A quick, but important caveat: I teach at a denominational seminary, was ordained into and serve in a denomination -- and therefore have much of my retirement savings tied to a denominational pension plan -- and not only take seriously, but take pride in, my Lutheran identity and heritage. (Whether...

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Is God Angry At You? A Good Friday Reflection

(64) Comments | Posted April 6, 2012 | 9:40 AM

Is God angry at you? You'd think so, given the interpretation of the cross that dominates popular American Christianity these days. Called the "penal-substitution theory of atonement," this understanding of the cross pictures God as a cosmic king who demands and deserves perfect obedience from God's servants, i.e.,...

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What Does The Bible Really Say About Love?

(814) Comments | Posted February 13, 2012 | 2:41 PM

What does the good book have to say about everyone's favorite subject at this time of the year -- love?

Describing a biblical view of love turns out to be no simple matter. First off, the Bible was written in both Hebrew and Greek, and each of...

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Atheists and the F-Word

(264) Comments | Posted February 6, 2012 | 11:27 AM

Last spring, I wrote a somewhat tongue-in-cheek article asking whether atheism had become a religion. Fifteen hundred (mostly) angry comments later, I realized few saw the humor. My primary goal in that post actually wasn't to convince anyone that atheism had, in fact, become an established religion, but...

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Need Help With Your New Year's Resolutions?

(0) Comments | Posted January 4, 2012 | 1:25 PM

Lots of us face the prospect of another new year resolved to break some bad habits and take up some good ones. The vast majority of us, however, have given up on our resolutions before the month's out. But if you truly want to change yourself for the better in...

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The Absurdity of Christmas

(273) Comments | Posted December 22, 2011 | 7:37 AM

I've been struck by the ads and billboards atheists have purchased again this year suggesting that Christmas is, to put it kindly, a myth. Struck. Not offended or angered. Just struck.

The gist of the advertisements is essentially that there is little to no proof that Christmas...

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Is the Bible a Reliable Moral Guide?

(2832) Comments | Posted November 21, 2011 | 2:23 PM

I know, I know: given that I teach, preach and write about the Bible for a living, I'm hardly the kind of person you think would ask this kind of question. But maybe it's precisely because I spend so much time with the Bible that this question occurs...

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What Does the Bible Really Say About Homosexuality?

(240) Comments | Posted October 10, 2011 | 3:50 PM

Actually, a whole lot less than you might imagine! That may be hard to believe given the fierce rhetoric Christians often employ when talking about homosexuality, but there are really only seven passages in the Bible that refer directly to homosexual behavior, and none of them are associated with Jesus....

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Adam, Eve & the Bible

(1302) Comments | Posted August 17, 2011 | 11:36 AM

Did Adam and Eve exist?

No.

Then again, George Washington didn't cut down a cherry tree, and Paul Revere never yelled, "The British are coming," either.

So what's the big deal? We regularly embellish actual events (in the case of Revere) or invent them (as with Washington) to point toward...

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4 Good Reasons Not to Read the Bible Literally

(4723) Comments | Posted August 6, 2011 | 10:06 AM

Cards on the table: 1) I read the Bible -- not as much as I should, I'm sure, but still pretty regularly. Moreover, I get paid to talk about the Bible with folks all across the country and have written a popular book to help people read the...

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Where Did The Bible Come From?

(2604) Comments | Posted July 13, 2011 | 10:42 AM

Since the early years of Christianity, various myths, legends, and even conspiracy theories about the origins of the Bible have enjoyed wide circulation. The discovery in recent decades of many books that were not accepted into the Christian canon has only added to this speculation, spawning numerous best-sellers and television...

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Has Atheism Become a Religion?

(1641) Comments | Posted May 26, 2011 | 3:35 PM

Before you dismiss the question out of hand, consider these four inter-related bits of evidence:

1) As recently reported in the New York Times, military personnel who identify themselves as "Atheists" have requested chaplains to tend to their spiritual needs. As the Times article notes, "Defense Department statistics...

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Resurrection Doubt

(40) Comments | Posted April 20, 2011 | 11:50 PM

This Sunday millions of Christians will raise their voices to share in the ancient Easter acclamation, "Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!"

But what if you don't believe in resurrection, or at least aren't sure? Perhaps you've been attending church for years but feel a little left out, even...

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What Kind of Book Is The Bible?

(1456) Comments | Posted April 8, 2011 | 10:20 PM

Did you ever wonder why HuffPost articles on the Bible elicit such strong reactions? Almost any piece about the Bible typically receives a couple of hundred comments and some garner far more. Why? I have a hunch it's because our attitudes about the Bible reveal our attitudes about religion more...

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Is the Bible True?

(4702) Comments | Posted April 1, 2011 | 8:09 PM

Wait! Don't answer that question too quickly. If you do, you'll likely judge the Bible's veracity by categories established 1,500 years after it was written. Perhaps I should explain.

Disillusioned by the religious fervor that fed the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), the early architects of what would later...

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Misogyny, Moralism and the Woman at the Well

(339) Comments | Posted March 21, 2011 | 1:05 AM

She is not a prostitute. She doesn't have a shady past. Yet when millions of Christians listen to her story this coming Sunday in church, they are likely to hear their preachers describe her in just those terms.

Her story is told in the fourth chapter of the Gospel According...

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