Is Easter an end, or a beginning? And what difference can it make to our world today, so torn by conflicts over immigration, justice, and injustice?
Apr 22, 2025•26 min
“Wheatfields with Crows” is Vincent’s last major painting, and as it turns out, it’s a brilliant portrait of the tensions at the heart of Easter morning: sadness and loneliness, restoration and grace. Drop us a line at community@saltproject.org.
Apr 14, 2025•21 min
Should the church wade in to political controversies? And if so, when, and how? The stories of Holy Week can help - and in turn, thinking about this thorny question can help us deepen our understanding of Holy Week.
Apr 13, 2025•25 min
The story of Van Gogh's beloved "Starry Night," and how it can help us see the story of Palm Sunday - and the Bible generally - with new eyes. Drop us a line at community@saltproject.org.
Apr 08, 2025•20 min
After the first three months of the new presidential administration and Congress, and in the midst of division, confusion, and controversy - what wisdom, what light can the Bible provide? A story from the Gospel of John gives us a clue…
Apr 02, 2025•21 min
In this episode, we dive into one of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings, a still life of an ordinary, worn-out pair of shoes. And the link between that painting and Mary’s anointing of Jesus’ feet gets to the heart of what life is all about: in a word, tenderness. Drop us a line at community@saltproject.org.
Apr 02, 2025•17 min
In this episode, we turn to Vincent’s version of “The Sower” he painted in November of 1888, a springboard for exploring two of Jesus’ most famous (and misunderstood) teachings: “The Parable of the Sower,” and “The Prodigal Son.”
Mar 25, 2025•24 min
In this episode, we explore Vincent’s “Almond Blossom” painting, setting his vision of an almond tree alongside Jesus’ parable of a fig tree. Two trees, two parables, each shedding light on the other… Drop us a line at community@saltproject.org.
Mar 18, 2025•19 min
In this episode, we dive into Vincent's famous "Sunflowers" paintings, and discover connections to Icelandic fisherman, a woman at a cradle, and Jesus' image of himself as a mother hen. Drop us a line at community@saltproject.org.
Mar 10, 2025•16 min
The son of a Christian pastor, Van Gogh trained for ministry before becoming a painter - and both his letters and his canvases are full of theological ideas. Can Van Gogh help us understand the Bible? Can the Bible help us understand Van Gogh's work? The answer to both questions, as it turns out, is a resounding Yes.
Mar 10, 2025•16 min
As we approach one of the most polarized, divisive elections in American history, what wisdom, what light can the Bible provide?
Oct 30, 2024•24 min
Culminating this six-part series, we explore the true meaning of the cross in Mark's Gospel, and what Jesus really had in mind by "a ransom for many." Drop us a line at community@saltproject.org.
Oct 15, 2024•22 min
It's one of the most controversial, radioactive, personal, pressing topics around: money and wealth, how much we should have and how much we should give away. Turns out Jesus had a lot to say about it, and in this episode, we take a deep dive. Drop us a line at community@saltproject.org.
Oct 08, 2024•18 min
In this episode, we tackle the specific question of Jesus' teaching about divorce (it’s not what you think!), and the general question of how Jesus reads Scripture. Drop us a line at community@saltproject.org.
Oct 01, 2024•18 min
"Blessed are the peacemakers," Jesus said - and as it turns out, peacemaking is a key to understanding what it means to follow him. Along the way, we explore a famous story about A. J. Muste, the Christian peacemaker sometimes called, "The American Gandhi."
Sep 24, 2024•16 min
What's the essence of Jesus' mission? What's the "signature move," the choreography at the heart of his work? In this episode, we explore these questions - and along the way, discover his vision for what "true greatness" is all about.
Sep 17, 2024•20 min
It's part one of our six-part series, "Understanding Jesus," a fresh look at the most provocative, influential, and misunderstood figure in human history. In this episode, we introduce the series, and then dive in to his famous, deceptively simple question, "Who do you say that I am?"
Sep 10, 2024•23 min
Rethinking the holiday from the ground up, with help from Mary Magdalene and one of the most harrowing, fascinating stories in scripture: the story of Rizpah.
Mar 26, 2024•23 min
This episode tackles the challenge of Palm Sunday, a story brimming with an ancient idea about how scripture works, and what it’s for.
Mar 19, 2024•20 min
This episode zeroes in on the meaning — and the purpose — of resurrection, arguably the greatest mystery of them all.
Mar 11, 2024•23 min
The Easter story is full of big, bold reversals — but there’s one in particular that’s hidden under the skin of the story, and it just might be the most subversive of them all.
Mar 05, 2024•22 min
Why was Jesus killed? Why did the Roman empire, arguably the most powerful force in the world, execute an unarmed, peasant rabbi from Nazareth? Turns out this mystery goes all the way back to the story of Cain and Abel...
Feb 28, 2024•25 min
The mystery of the cross is like a cathedral with many entrances and side chapels, and exploring it can both enrich the season and deepen our understanding.
Feb 19, 2024•29 min
A deep dive into the meaning of Easter, starting at the very beginning (even before the beginning!), with the creation stories, the story of Noah and the ark, and the opening lines of the oldest New Testament Gospel.
Feb 13, 2024•32 min
Woven through the biblical library is a vibrant tradition of humility, making possible the practice of genuine love — and revealing how the essence of Christmas includes a critique of… Christmas as we know it today!
Dec 20, 2023•22 min
Isaiah’s legendary proclamation of “good news to the poor,” how Jesus understood scripture as “script,” St. Francis of Assisi’s second conversion (plus the anniversary of one of his inventions!), and more.
Dec 13, 2023•18 min
How Mark’s quotation of Isaiah’s call to “prepare the way of the Lord” reveals one of the key ingredients the Bible is made of — and how “peace” is at the heart of the Christmas season.
Dec 07, 2023•20 min
How Isaiah’s call on God to “tear open the heavens” points to.an ancient practice central to the Bible, and crucial to Christmas - but often overlooked by Christians today.
Nov 29, 2023•22 min
What’s the greatest work of art in Christian history? And how can Berry’s Sabbath poems and Matisse’s Chapel of the Rosary, which Matisse himself considered his masterpiece, help us understand the many mysteries in the holiest week of the Christian Year?
Mar 28, 2023•22 min
Why was Jesus, an unarmed, peasant rabbi, seen as such a threat to the powers that be (including the mighty Roman Empire) that they had him killed? The prophet Ezekiel gives us a clue, and Berry’s poem about resurrection and Matisse’s transformative painting shed light on the deep meanings of the cross.
Mar 21, 2023•19 min
