Sarahbeth Caplin's Blog, page 19

Reconciling hell

One week before my father died of cancer, I received an email from a family friend— we’ll call her G—wanting to know if he had been “saved” yet; the implication being there wasn’t much time left before it would be … Continue reading →

What Judaism and Christianity teach me about perseverance

While Judaism made me aware that everyone suffers, and Christianity taught me how to persevere through suffering, most of the time I really don’t suffer—I’m just uncomfortable. And the things that cause this discomfort are really kind of silly. When … Continue reading →

There can be freedom in following “the law”

My first book, Confessions of a Prodigal Daughter, describes much of my frustration with feeling like a “bad” Jew because I didn’t keep kosher, or the Sabbath, or fast on Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement. It wasn’t just … Continue reading →

Learning the language of Christian culture

When I was in seminary (a rather impulsive decision after college, thinking God was calling me to faith-based counseling), I joined an on-campus Bible study. I remember sitting on the floor of my friend Isabel’s living room, munching on frosted … Continue reading →

Two Christian camps, two approaches to Scripture: Part II

Welcome to Part II of my Bible comparison series! In Part I, I examined a common evangelical approach to reading Scripture. Today, I tackle Peter Enns’ book The Bible Tells Me So, which represents a progressive-leaning – and dare I … Continue reading →

Two Christian camps, two approaches to Scripture: Part I

For the last few weeks, I embarked on a personal project that compares two books, each one representing two strands of Christianity and their approach to reading and interpreting Scripture. The first book is Women of the Word by Jen … Continue reading →

Important announcement about ‘Confessions of a Prodigal Daughter’

I often joke that it was a bad idea to publish a memoir at the age of 22 because the shiny, child-like faith I had back then is now frozen in time. I’ve evolved quite a bit since, but only … Continue reading →

This is how it starts

I was talking to my brother on the phone the other day: “You know, lately I’ve been thinking about the anxiety Mom had when we were growing up, about Nazis coming to America. And we all thought she was crazy.” … Continue reading →

Is Judaism inherently legalistic?

In the company of Jewish friends, I went way out into the wilderness where I could see my tradition through their eyes instead of my own. They taught me what messiah means to a Jew, which is quite different from … Continue reading →

It’s okay to change your mind

I’m no longer the same person I was when I wrote Confessions a Prodigal Daughter, yet it continues to be my best-selling book. There was a purpose for the journey I had made up until that point, and I’m grateful … Continue reading →