What does the Bible have in common with Fifty Shades of Grey or one of John Green’s best-selling young adult novels?

JERUSALEM - Nanotechnology has been revolutionizing science, medicine and industry for decades, but it took until now for someone to turn it into a religious fashion statement.

TORONTO - Chances are you’ve never heard a homily preached on Deuteronomy 20:10-18. It’s kind of difficult to apply these God-given rules of war to daily life in the 21st century.

VATICAN CITY - Fifty years ago, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum) urged the faithful to nourish their faith by reading the Bible, putting an end to centuries of seeing direct access to the Scriptures as something reserved to the clergy.

OKLAHOMA CITY - The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics briefly used its official Facebook page on Aug. 26 to debate marijuana and the Bible. After two commenters posted references to the Bible in response to a story about the detrimental effects of marijuana on the brain, a bureau employee engaged them in a theological argument.

WASHINGTON - A Christian family’s ambitious Bible museum project has forged a key alliance with the Israel Antiquities Authority, giving treasures from the Holy Land a temporary home just steps from the National Mall.

The Book of Job, one of the great masterpieces of not only biblical literature, but all literature, is rarely read at Sunday Mass. Yet it was there last Sunday, a brief excerpt from the devastating speech of the Lord God to Job, who has dared to question Him: Where were you when I laid the foundations of the universe?

This Easter I became a Catholic.

What was a long and sometimes circuitous journey culminated, in a way, at the Easter Vigil as I was confirmed, received into the Church and shared in the eucharistic celebration.

Several years ago Jean Beliveau was asked to name the book he would select if he could own just one.

“The Bible,” he told the Montreal Gazette. “It’s a book I could read the rest of my life.”

Sometimes certain texts in the Bible make you wonder: Is this really the Word of God? Why is this text in Scripture? What’s the lesson here? 

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) Oct. 12 (Isaiah 25:6-10a; Psalm 23; Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20; Matthew 22:1-14) 

Modern people climb great mountains simply because they are there and they want to prove themselves. In the ancient world, mountains were frightening and awesome places where human beings encountered God. Isaiah painted a prophetic picture of the encounter for which so many people had yearned. 

NEW YORK - In the 50 years since the Second Vatican Council encouraged Catholics to read, reflect and act on Scripture, there has been a "surging vitality in the life of the church," according to Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

"There is nothing that the church does that is not rooted in Scripture," he told participants at the New York Catholic Bible Summit June 16.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from a program called Notorious Women of the Bible. Actually I was a little put off by the obviously provocative title. It seemed like a ploy to attract some of that large and lucrative audience normally drawn to programs like Desperate Housewives.

Not to disparage Desperate Housewives, but Hollywood depicts notorious women a dozen times a night on television. I was hoping for something a little different.

VATICAN CITY - While the text of the Bible is fixed, the same Holy Spirit that inspired its writing continues to inspire its proclamation and interpretation in the church, Pope Benedict XVI said.

The Catholic Church's understanding of the Bible grows through time thanks to the Holy Spirit's guidance and to reflection, study, prayer and preaching, the Pope said in a message to members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, an international group of scholars who advise the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

A few weeks ago, I was shanghaied by one of my friends into attending a Bible study with Ottawa Christian Fellowship.

I must admit I was not particularly optimistic about this venture, given the brutal Ottawa winter in full swing at the time. Also, as a product of numerous retreats and Catholic conferences during high school, I was equally doubtful that I would learn anything new. So with a degree of scepticism, I followed my friend and her Bible study group into one of the major residences on the University of Ottawa campus.