The Tabernacle, the Creation, and the Ideal of an Orderly World

Here's a biblical studies article by The Torah, examining the relationship between the Tabernacle and creation. It may be wordy, though.

https://www.thetorah.com/article/tabernacle-creation-and-the-ideal-of-an-orderly-world

The account of the Tabernacle’s construction echoes the creation story in Genesis 1-2:4a, providing an interpretive key to the ancient understanding of this structure. Ritual theory provides further insight into what Israelite readers may have found meaningful about the Tabernacle as a ritual place.

Earth Day at 50: Christians, Creation, and COVID-19

Here's an article from BioLogos, discussing about environmentalism during the time of pandemic while also encouraging Christians to take up environmentalism. A much needed article for us to consider our relationship with the earth and with each other.

https://biologos.org/articles/earth-day-at-50-christians-creation-and-covid-19

Earth Day provides Christians with the opportunity to be truth tellers, to look soberly at what science reveals about the health of creation, and to acknowledge the reality of a world that is far from perfect.

The Desert Fathers’ Beasts: Crocodiles in Medieval German Monastic Literature

Here's something unusual, yet interesting: an academic paper about the depictions of crocodiles within Christian monastic literature. It's on Google Scholar; click on the pdf on the right to download it.

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=The+Desert+Fathers%E2%80%99+Beasts%3A+Crocodiles+in+Medieval+German+Monastic+Literature&btnG=

Here's the abstract:

This paper explores the literary representations of one of the most terrifying animals in the medieval imagination, the crocodile, in two monastic texts written in the German vernacular (Väterbuch, Alemannische Vitaspatrum). The literary figure of the crocodile in these religious texts combines ancient knowledge of crocodiles, biblical motifs, allegorical attributions and the lived experience of the Christian hermits, who encountered crocodiles as a part of their environment. Thus, crocodiles appear simultaneously as representations of divine power, as devilish beasts, as challenges to ascetic life in the desert, and as creatures miraculously tamed by the hermits’ charisma. The ambiguous status of the desert as a space of temptation and redemption is thus reflected in literary representations of the crocodile, which in turn can be understood as a reflection on monastic life in general, intended for the medieval audience of the texts discussed.