Almost every month since November of 2002 I have had a column called “Scholar’s Corner” (Editor Richelle Thompson’s choice, not mine, as I recall it) in the Diocese of Southern Ohio’s monthly newspaper, Interchange.

The idea of the column was to try to answer (in 440 words, preferably) questions submitted by laypeople. Pdfs of these columns are available below for downloading.

I have a pretty good academic background, with an M.Div. from the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest, Austin and a Ph.D. in Bible (Old Testament) from Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati. But these columns were not to be academic writing. My intended audience is Christian laypeople who have things they have always wondered about, perhaps intellectual difficulties with elements of Christianity, and maybe even doubts about the overall validity of Christian faith. The Christian layperson today is often confused and doesn’t know what to think, hearing differing perspectives both from the wide variety of Christian churches we have in many places today and from the wider culture.

    

I try to give laypeople a good, fundamentally correct perspective on an issue, one in keeping with current scholarly opinion, hoping that if an expert in the field were to read the column, he or she would not think I had misled people.

I try in my columns to bring some degree of clarity to issues connected with religious faith in a way that acknowledges complexity and doesn’t offer simplistic explanations to complicated issues. I believe that intellectual honesty will be better in the long run for all than giving adult Christians simplistic “Sunday School answers.” I try to treat my readers as adults who can “handle” nuanced approaches to issues.

It is my conviction that the Christian faith can stand up to critical investigation. While not everything that has been believed or done by religious people will stand the test of honest scrutiny, the essence and essentials of the Christianity and of the life of faith I believe will.

 --Bill Gartig
 

The most recent column posted:   0901 2009 Jan - The Second Coming

 

Bill Gartig’s Interchange Articles Arranged Topically

(November 2002 – January 2009)

 

The Bible

    The Languages of the Bible

          “Why Is the New Testament in Greek and Not in Latin?” (Oct 2004)

          “Why Is the New Testament in Greek and Not in Aramaic?” (Aug 2004)

          Aramaic was the Language of Jesus and the Earliest Christian Church (Sep 2004)
 

     The History of the Transmission of the Bible

“How many times has the Bible been translated? Can we trust the Bible if it’s been translated so many times?” (Nov 2002)

“How Close Are Our English Bibles Today to the Original Wording of the New Testament?” (Dec 2002)

Unintentional Errors in the Biblical Text/“Do we have originals of any biblical books? I know handwritten manuscripts contain errors, but what kind of errors do we find in manuscripts of the Bible?” (June 2003)

         Intentional Changes in the Biblical Text (Aug 2003)

          “Have We Lost the Original Words of the Bible?” (Apr 2006)
 

    The Canon of the Bible

“How Was It Decided which Books Would Be Included in the New Testament?”/NT Canon (Mar 2004)

“How Was It Decided which Books Would Be Included in the Old Testament? And why do some churches (including the Episcopal Church) use the books of the Apocrypha, when those books are not in the Jewish Bible?”/OT Canon (May 2004)
 

    The Interpretation of the Bible

Can You Prove Anything from the Bible?/ “It seems to me that you can prove absolutely anything from the Bible, so someone quoting the Bible in support of their position (whatever it might be) does not persuade me in the least. What do you have to say about that?” (Apr 2004)

          The Firmament (Mar 2006)

          Six-Day Creation 6,000 Years Ago versus Modern Science (Feb 2006)

          On the Age of the Earth (Jan 2008)

          The Sons of God and the Daughters of Men (Gen 6:1-4) (May 2006)

            The Genealogies of the Bible (Jun 2006)

How Christians Relate Themselves to the Old Testament, Given that It Was Not Written for Them but for Jews (Feb 2008)
 

    Bible Translations

          The Classic King James Version (Mar 2003)

          “Which Translation Should I Buy?” (Feb 2003)

          “Which Translation is the Most Literal and Accurate and the Least Interpretive?” (April 2003)
 

The History of Christianity

          Were Jesus and Mary Magdalene Man and Wife?/The Gospel of Mary (Mar 2005)
          Did Jesus Exist?/Historical Sources for Jesus (Jul 2006)
How Did Christianity Break Away from Judaism?/“How is it that Christianity started off being all Jewish (Jesus and his disciples were Jews), but became almost entirely Gentile (almost no Christians are Jewish)?” (Dec 2003)
          Did Paul Found Christianity? (Jan 2005)
          Did Paul Found Christianity? (Part 2) (Feb 2005)
          Should Christians Observe and Worship on the Sabbath? (Apr 2008)
The Orthodox Suppression of Gnostic Literature/“Some recent books, including Elaine Pagels’ Beyond Belief, seem to accuse the Christian Church of unjustly rejecting the Gnostic Gospels and trying to deprive us of the benefit of reading them. Is that what happened?” (Jan 2004)
          The Episcopal Church's History with Slavery and Racism (November 2008)
 
Theology
Is the Old Testament God Different from the New Testament God?/“I like to read the New Testament, but I don’t like to read the Old Testament because God seems jealous and vengeful, always punishing people for their sins. But in the New Testament, God is loving and forgiving. I know they are supposed to be the same God, but I can’t get over my impression that they are very different.” (May 2003)
          Do Christian Beliefs about Jesus Violate Monotheism? (Aug 2006)
          The Fall of Satan (Apr 2005)
          The Secret Rapture (Sep 2003)
          Priestly Celibacy (Jul/Aug 2005)
          Liberal and Conservative Approaches to Issues (Sep 2005)
          Evolution/Are Evolution and God Incompatible? (Dec 2005)
          Polygamy (Nov 2006)
          Christian Triumphalism (Dec 2006)
          Am I Liberal or Conservative? (Feb 2007)
          “Originalism” (Mar 2007)
          Is It Arrogant to Question God’s Fairness? (July 2007)
          Anglican Comprehensiveness (Sept 2007)
          More on Homosexuality/“Homosexuality Redux” (Mar 2008)
          Perfectionism and the Holiness Movement (May 2008)
          Charismatic Spirituality (June 2008)
          The Second Coming (January 2009)
 
Liturgy
Advent Colors/“On the first Sunday of Advent, the vestments and hangings in church were dark blue. Shouldn’t they have been purple? Where do we get the colors of the church year, and is there a right or wrong way to use them?” (Jan 2003)
The Date of Christmas/“I have heard that Dec. 25 was set as the date for the birth of Jesus so as to make it coincide with a Roman festival of the sun. Is that correct?” (June 2004)
          The Meaning of “Catholic” (Oct 2005)
          Trinitarian Baptism (Nov 2004)
          Why the Didache Prefers Baptism by Immersion in Cold, Running Water (Dec 2004)
 
 Non-Christian Religions
Why is there such hostility to America in the Muslim world?/“The question we heard so often after 9/11 was: “Why do they hate us so?” That’s my question. Why is there such anti-Western sentiment in the Islamic world? Even if it doesn’t always result in acts of violence, anti-Americanism seems rampant. Why?” (Oct 2003)
          Recommended Books on Islam (Nov 2003)
          Who Are the Wahhabis? (Feb 2004)
          Do Muslims Worship a Different God than Christians and Jews? (Jun 2005)
          Holocaust Denial (Jan 2007)
          Non-Christian Spirituality (May 2007)
          Non-Christian Spirituality (Part 2) (Jun 2007)
          On the Islamic God Not Loving All People, But Only the Righteous (Nov 2007)
 
Miscellaneous
          The Value of Lectionary Study Groups (Sep 2006)
         Dialogue Groups