I wonder how many of you heard today’s gospel and began to cringe. Two verses from this passage have been enormously important in Christianity, especially among American evangelicals. Though our version, the New Revised Standard Version, translates it differently, the paraphrase of the old translation of John 3:3 “You must be born again” has shaped our understanding of the Christian life and experience at its most basic level, and John 3:16, even without the text of the verse itself, is a key marker for evangelical identity and a symbol of American Christianity. Continue reading →