JAY PARINI

Good and productive labor is valuable, and it doesn't mean you have to have a fancy job description. You don't have to become rich. You can be ordinary. Happiness lies there. Do good work, create good work for others.

In a country where Americans sense, quite genuinely, that their freedoms have been taken away by the government - as in the U.S. Patriot Act, as in NSA surveillance - people feel powerless.

Jesus discouraged the accumulation of wealth, worried about its effects on those who had it, and took special pleasure in helping the poor, dedicating his efforts to them. He must have shaken his head at the large gaps between rich and poor throughout ancient Palestine in the first century.

The whole Christmas story was probably a later addition to the gospel narratives, presented only by the authors of Matthew and Luke. Mark and John seem never to have heard of the manger in Bethlehem, the Massacre of the Innocents, the hovering star, the three wise men, and so forth.

A long-running argument exists over whether Christians and Muslims worship the same God. In my view, they certainly do.

Actually, a myth is a story that is not just not true, but it's a story that is especially true. And I think the myth of Jesus is especially true.

American politicians who dwell on American exceptionalism only dishonor us by suggesting we play dumb to our past.

Among the disciples of Jesus, it seems most likely that at least Philip was bilingual in Aramaic and Greek.

As 'Possession' progresses, it seems less and less like the usual satire about academia and more like something by Jorge Luis Borges.

As a Christian, I try to meditate or pray at least once a day, however briefly.

'Bag of Bones' was a big, distorted yet wonderfully entertaining novel that rode high on the bestseller lists in 1998.

By the time I went to college, I knew the major passages of the Bible pretty much by heart.

God is God, but he has various names in different languages, and each strand of monotheistic religion has multiple ways of describing the godhead.

History is, of course, a made thing. It does not exist by itself in anything like a recognizable form.

Honest, simple work for young people is essential to their well-being.

I envy Muslims their practice of regular and genuine prayer. It's a beautiful practice that enriches their daily lives.

I have a mystical bent, and I pursue daily meditations that follow the liturgical calendar - what are called the 'daily offices' of the church.

I regard Jesus, like the Buddha, as a figure with the power to shape our lives.

I suspect that the framers of the Bill of Rights have long since rolled over in their graves.

I think that the practice of religion allows one to discover emotional and psychological truth of a kind not available in the secular world.

I'm tired of hearing about this 'well-regulated militia' that is so necessary for American freedom.

I've spent a good deal of time in the Middle East over the years, lecturing at universities in places like Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and Morocco.

In a sense, I wrote the book about Jesus that I wanted to read.

In truth, Jesus did not, in his own time, attract much notice.

It's impossible to see the face of Jesus without seeking that face in some concentrated way, in the practice of the faith, through prayer and action.