How does one recover from sexual abuse? What could be a truly healing process? This essay provides some helpful resources and encouragement for those who have encountered sexual abuse in various ways and follows up on Amos Esh’s previous essay that defined sexual abuse.

What does the Bible and North American laws say about sexual abuse? How do shame, guilt, honesty, repentance, forgiveness, bold love, and Isaiah 53 all connect to this topic? Amos Esh addresses this sensitive topic in this essay and provides insight into the emotions and perpetrators behind abuse.

In Part 2 Amos will talk about recovery, resources and encouragement for those who have dealt with sexual abuse.

Jesus said the Pharisees cleaned the outside of the cup and left the inside dirty. He talked about tombs that were whitewashed outside and full of bones inside. We may be tempted to think that our actions are part of the outside, but Jesus teaches that our actions, at least most of them, are inside the cup. Marlin Sommers digs into Matthew 15 to explore what it looks like to serve Jesus with our hearts rather than our lips.

How would you like to copy the Bible by hand? We can thank medieval Jewish scribes for their incredible, detailed work on the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible. This is the third and final essay in Vince Beiler's series "Transmitting the Old Testament: Adventures of the Hebrew Text"

Transmitting the Old Testament:  Adventures of the Hebrew Text

What do the famous Dead Sea Scrolls tell us about the Bible? In this second essay in his series "Transmitting the Old Testament: Adventures of the Hebrew Text," Vince Beiler guides us through the Dead Sea Scrolls and how they help to broaden our understanding of the ancient Hebrew text of the Bible.

Transmitting the Old Testament:  Adventures of the Hebrew Text 

How did we get the Bible when it was written thousands of years ago? "It is easy to think that transmitting the biblical text is a relatively simple matter. This is probably because (a) we have never tried copying a document long hand and (b) we are accustomed to printed Bible editions with clear, consistent lettering. In truth, copying a Bible is very hard work ..."

Vince Beiler explores this question as he takes us into the fascinating world of the ancient Hebrew Bible.

Vince Beiler takes us through the fascinating history of the Hebrew Bible and is transmission across millennia, which eventually led to today's compact printed bibles. This was originally published in three parts on our website. https://anabaptistperspectives.org/essays/hebrew-bible-history-part-1

Seeking Better Vision - Anabaptists, History, and the Powers

What is Anabaptism at its core? Is it defined by history and people? In this essay, Kyle Stoltzfus argues we do better if we seek to see what the early Anabaptists saw. Their eyes were on the reign of Christ and how that relates to the "principalities, and powers" the Bible talks so much about. We need better spiritual vision to see what they saw.

In September we will feature a podcast episode (on our main Anabaptist Perspectives Channel) where Kyle dialogues with Marlin Sommers about themes from this essay. Read now and stay tuned for more discussion!

Marlin takes a look at slavery passages in the New Testament.

"My point is not to make slavery look less bad, but to see what these texts teach us about our own work, whatever our economic situation."

"New Testament advice to slaves reminds us that, whatever our economic situation,

1. God values and will reward all legitimate work, and
2. Our work and economic lives should reflect Kingdom generosity and the way of the cross."

Marlin Sommers serves various roles with Anabaptist Perspectives and works with another non-profit. Marlin and his wife are raising four children in Southeast TN. See more of Marlin’s work at www.marlin.work

"In today’s highly partisan environment it is easy for American believers to be carried away with the passionate belief that politics can be the solution to our nation’s problems."

Stephen Russell reminds us that we are part of the kingdom of light, not the kingdom of darkness. Does our relationship to politics reflect this?