Job vs Proverbs

The books of Job and Proverbs probably were completed around the same time. Both of them present a kind of wisdom, but both of them are in tension with one another.

Proverbs presents a kind of Practical wisdom. It's the kind of stuff that common sense is made up of. On the other hand Job contains a more speculative wisdom, which is also found in Ecclesiastes. This wisdom seems to assail the practical. It lambastes the Sage of the proverbs for pie in the sky thinking when there is obviously a great deal of suffering in the world.

The speculative Wiseman who composed Job knows that sometimes a life lived with an adherence to the Practical Wisdom of the Proverbs, does not guarantee that everything will go your way.

Sometimes justice fails.

This world-view portrayed beautifully in a line from one of my favourite poems by A.E. Houseman, "Terence, this is stupid stuff." It states:

Therefore, since the world has still
Much good, but much less good than ill,
And while the sun and moon endure.
Luck’s a chance, but trouble’s sure,
I’d face it as a wise man would,
And train for ill and not for good.

This sentiment is seen in Job 5:7:

"Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward."

This observation makes up the primary argument of the speculative wiseman in Job. One must expect their virtue to reap as much suffering as it does blessing. The universe is not a simple as karma in karma out. A life that is lived for virtue is still the best way to live, but virtue doesn't promise temporal rewards.

In light of this attack, is there any defense for Proverbs?

I think that the case for Practical wisdom might be best made most simply by Dylan Thomas when he states, "Do not go gentle into that good night"

The sage of Practical wisdom knows that the world is full of sorrow, and yet it spite of it determines to proclaim what he believes to be good and right.

In a sense Practical wisdom is not ignorant platitudes, but the battle cry of those who seek to "Rage, rage against the dying of the light." As they see the very life of the word around them fall into corruption they lift their voice and cry out.

They are wild men who are not afraid to seem insane to a world gone mad. This is why I love the image of wisdom given in Proverbs 1:20:

Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the street.

Practical wisdom is a cry and a shout, it is a rebel, and a beggar.

 
So which is better, the Practical Sage  or the speculative philosopher?


We need the wisdom of both!

St. Cyprian to the rich

The following quote comes from "On the Dress of Virgins" by St. Cyprian. It discusses how one ought to spend their wealth.

You say that you are wealthy and rich, and you think that you should use those things which God has willed you to possess.

Use them, certainly,
but for the things of salvation; 

use them, 

but for good purposes; 

use them, 

but for those things which God has commanded,
and which the Lord has set forth.

Let the poor feel that you are wealthy;

let the needy feel that you are rich.

Lend your estate to God;
give food to Christ.

Move Him by the prayers of many to grant you to carry out
the glory of virginity, and
to succeed in coming to the Lord’s rewards.

There entrust your treasures,
where no thief digs through, where no insidious plunderer breaks in.

Prepare for yourself possessions;
but let them rather be heavenly ones,

• where neither rust wears out,
• nor hail bruises, 
• nor sun burns, 
• nor rain spoils your fruits 
• constant and perennial, and free from all contact of worldly injury.

For in this very matter you are sinning against God,
if you think that riches were given you by Him for this purpose,
to enjoy them thoroughly,
without a view to salvation.

For God gave man also a voice; 
and yet love-songs and indecent things are not on that account to be sung.

And God willed iron to be for the culture of the earth,
but not on that account must murders be committed.

Or because God ordained incense, and wine, and fire, 
are we thence to sacrifice to idols?

Or because the flocks of cattle abound in your fields, 
ought you to immolate victims and offerings to the gods?

Otherwise a large estate is a temptation,
unless the wealth minister to good uses;
so that every man,
in proportion to his wealth,
ought by his patrimony rather to redeem his transgressions than to increase them.

St. Cyprian of Carthage, On the Dress of Virgins, 11

Are you hearing the Gospel in surround sound?

 

I found the lecture presented in the video below to be pretty good. Basically Tom Wright is talking about how to hear the story of the Gospel in surround sound.

Basically we need to make sure that all the "speakers" are turned on and set at the right volume.  The speakers of the Gospel are:

• The Story of Israel coming to it's climax (the church has continuity with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob)
• The story of how the God of Israel comes (rather then the God of the Greeks).
• The story of the launching of God's Kingdom (on heaven AND on earth)
• The story of the clash between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Caesar

Are Lutherans Really First Century Catholics?

So fellow Chicago-land pastor, Jonathan Fisk posted this video today. In it he argues that Lutherans aren't protestants in the same way that most people think about it. He essentially says that they are Catholics who fought to keep believing the "Gospel" instead of submitting to the Pope, who Jonathan believes subverted the Gospel by burying it under lots of false doctrines and such...

As any regular reader of this blog knows, Catholics and Lutherans are two of the groups of Christians I love the most. In fact most of my readers are either Catholics or Lutherans. I would like to start a discussion about this video if possible in the comments section below.

1. What does Pastor Fisk get right?
2. Is there anything factually wrong about the video?
3. What might you add to the conversation?

Let me know what you think!

Dissecting the Great Commission

This is a great little diagram that maps out the great commission (Matthew 28:19-20) and how it ACTUALLY functions in the Greek...

Let me break it down a little for you:

The command is not GO,

• that is simply describing what's going on while you are doing 
• (it's in an aorist, passive deponent, participle for those of you keeping score at home)
• there is no conjunction in the Greek denoting 2 separate commands.

The actual imperative is "make disciples" (aorist, active, imperative, 2nd, plural)

• The how of making disciples is described by two participles "baptizing" and "teaching"
• The nature of the baptism is εἰς (into not just in, which would be ἐν, it's more of a language of participation rather then authority) the NAME (ὄνομα SINGULAR) of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
• (Side note: It's one name that all three share, but not a name that is kosher to say aka יהוה. Keep this in mind whenever New Testament writers talk about The Name. For example this is probably what is being referred to in Philippians 2:9)
• The nature of teaching is to τηρέω (to guard over, actively remain steadfast to a state) the all the commands (this might also be translated orders) that Jesus gave to his disciples.

Image from Issues, Etc. Journal, Fall 2011

My Life with the Saints

One of the great tragedies of the reformation is the loss of history within the churches that count themselves it’s children. Within many traditions there was a movement to distance the emerging churches of the reformation from the historical continuity of the Catholic Church. People began to look exclusively at the leaders in the first century of the church's existence for inspiration, and abandoned devotion to anyone who didn’t fall under the umbrella of the apostolic age. If the Bible didn’t mention someone as holy, then one couldn’t trust that they were holy. As a result many protestants have lost touch with the saints.

Even though I was raised in the Lutheran Church, which tends to hold onto history better than many traditions, I still felt that I needed to connect with the lives of the saints more closely. This year I have tried to be on a journey with the saints as a spiritual practice.

It all started when I read through My Life With The Saints by Fr. James Martin. This book is a great demonstration of what a powerful spiritual practice surrounding the lives of the saints looks like. In the book Fr. Martin takes us through a tour of the lives of the saints that have most deeply impacted his own life. He talks about why the saint is important to him personally and shares some things about their lives that might be of interest to other as well.

The format is brilliant. Fr. Martin gives a bit of an autobiography of his own life by talking about how he has developed a love for certain saints over time as he has entered different parts of his life. Fr. Martin understands that if one is a christian, their life cannot be isolated from the life of the church. All are united in Christ and therefore, all christians become a kind of sacred space that others can inhabit. As one sees the grace of God reflected powerfully in others they can encounter God’s grace in ways that are beyond the particularities of their own life. By looking to the saints God’s grace can be experienced as a more than just a personal gift, but a universal revolution.

Saints have cut pathways through the vastness of human experience and demonstrate ways that God can be at work in any number of places, and at any number of times. When we enter new places where God seems absent, saints assure us that we are not alone in that place and point to ways that God has already been there and point toward the pathways of grace.

Fr. Martin’s book inspired and convicted me. As I read through it I realized that I wanted to have a life connected to the life of the saints, but recognized that my own life was woefully deficient. Far too often my spiritual life tends toward one of vainglory. I believe that the way God has worked in me is the best way, and show little regard for alternative pathways of grace. Not only did I not have a desire to know the ways of God that I might learn about through the saints, I had no room to receive them in my own heart. I needed to learn how to have the kind of humility that says yes to what God has to give me, even if it’s not what I had anticipated.

As a result I decided that I would start to get to know my first saint. There is no one in scripture that reflects the heart of humility more than the Virgin Mary. I decided that I would invite God to work the same heart, open to grace, in me. Since reading the book I have spent countless hours sitting with Mary trying to learn to live in the space of humility that she has so powerfully modeled for the Church, the first chapter in my own Life with the Saints has begun.

St. Thérèse: The Story of a Soul

Yesterday I posted about how I need spiritual classics to help me see a God bigger then my presuppositions. [The Virtue of the Antiquated]

One example of this is a spiritual classic that I read for the first time in January. The book was called The Story of a Soul. It is the record of of the life of Thérèse of Lisieux. Thérèse was a 19th century Carmelite nun. She wrote down the book that we know today at The Story of a Soul at the request of her mother-superior. It’s a touching story about her lifelong desire to become a Carmelite nun and her way of learning to find God in the midst of suffering and humility.

The reason this book had such an impact on me was because I read it in a time where I desperately needed to hear about humility, but had no way to understand it myself. I was proud and self assured, but God was leading me into a place of confusion and difficulty. How could I, in all my arrogance, find the words to understand a life that was daily putting me into a place of ignorance?

Thérèse spoke in words that cut me like a knife. Her simple ways were powerful in their weakness. I was silenced from the simplicity of her thought. She saw who God was and how much greater God was then she was and she found peace in that. She didn’t seek to prove herself as something great in the sight of God but made it her life’s goal to be something small. When people attacked her she relished it as the highest treasure, for she understood that enemies drive one into the embrace of God more than friends ever could. When things gave her pleasure she willingly gave them up to Christ as a dear treasure to present to her dearest spouse, Jesus.

This last semester in my seminary career has been one of the most difficult times of my life. I have been constantly exhausted, often away from my wife and son, and continually confused about where I am going in life. If it wasn’t for Thérèse’s words that showed me a new way to love Jesus I don’t know if I could have made it through. I could love Jesus just as deeply in confusion, exhaustion, and disappointment as I could in certainty and self assurance. In fact I might be able to love him better now than I ever could without suffering.

The Virtue of the Antiquated

For much of my Christian life I have suffered from having a limited perspective. Most of my thoughts have been formed from my own perspective and social location. As a result, my theology has made a lot of sense to me. It fits well into the world of a middle-class white american male in the twenty-first century. I have seen Jesus as primarily concerned with the kinds of problems that I am concerned with and interested in my own interests. This naturally can become problematic. If God is formed in my own image then my faith can never grow beyond the boundaries of my own worldview. There needs to be a place in my life where I can an encounter God in the magnificence of the outlandish.

One thing that I have learned by walking with my Catholic brothers and sisters is the importance of involving diverse voices in the formations of faith. Homogeneity is not seen as a virtue, and uniformity is recognized as monotony. One example of this tendency can be seen in a conversation that I had with Dr. David Fagerberg, a professor in Liturgy at Notre Dame, on what he thought of the recent re-translation of the Latin Mass. He told me he liked it because of its diversity. He said that it allowed the prayer of the people to echo throughout time. It was understandable, yet not comfortable. One does not use words like “consubstantial” in everyday conversation, but good Christian worship invites participants to pray beyond their own words and outside of their own comfort zones in a new realm of divine disclosure.

Another tradition that forces me into the magnificence of the outlandish is through the reading of spiritual classics. Spiritual Classics are books that have taken hold of something in people that crosses through time and presents God to new generations with old voices. Reading old books has become an essential part of my own journey to encounter a living God. God is not only beyond race, gender, and social location; God is beyond time itself. To encounter God we can’t be trapped in the understandings of our own time. C.S. Lewis describes this problem beautifully in his introduction to On the Incarnation. He states,

Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period.

Spiritual classics have been, for me, one of the most powerful ways that God has spoken to me about who I am and who God is. God has used them to break open my heart and my mind. The Classics are an invaluable tool for letting God be God and not simply a projection. They open us up to a world where we are not introduced to the God of philosophers but the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Paul, Theresa, Francis, Perpetua, Athanasius, and countless others who have known God and loved God in a diversity of ways at a diversity of times.

Poetry vs Proverbs

Some scholars argue that wisdom literature is a different kind of revelation from, say, that in the Psalms. Hence, they believe, the former has less absolute authority in religious matters than the latter book.  I was recently asked the question, "are these scholars right?"

I think this question is impossible to answer without clarifying a couple of things.

1. No book of the Bible has "absolute authority in religious matters". When Christians talk about the authority of scripture they do so with an understanding that the authority of scripture is simply a shorthand way of saying "the authority of God exercised through scripture." For more on this see my post that reviews N.T. Wright's book "The Last Word" [HERE]
2. The authority of the Bible is not complete if parts are removed. If one believes that "the Holy Scripture, the Old and the New Testament, is the Word of God and the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine, and conduct" (as do most protestants, including my own denomination) then you can't accept part of it without taking another part too. In this view scripture interprets scripture and so all of scripture must be in the conversation.
3. The real issue here is, "where does one go to form Dogmatic formulations of "proofs" for dogmatic formulations?" This is a much more serious matter. In all honesty few Christians who argue for the "absolute" authority of scripture for dogma go to the psalms, or the wisdom literature for their central dogmatic formulations. Most tend to live almost exclusively in the writings of Paul (and we can thank Martin Luther for that). This was not always the case, Jesus himself seemed to express His own christology through the psalms more then anything else. In fact, the New Testament writers as a whole quote from Psalms more than any other Old Testament book.

 I don't like the way the question about which book has more absolute authority is framed, but I think it dopes point to an important question

"if we were going to try to "do theology" from one collection of writings or the other,
which one would be more useful?"

This question is a little easier. I would tend to go to the Psalms MORE OFTEN.

Jesus went to the psalms more.
The apostles went to the Psalms more.
The Church fathers went to the psalms more.
I, too, would go to the psalms.

Wisdom literature is just that, it's wisdom. It mostly includes the kinds of things that any person who has lived can say about life. It's a good reservoir to drink from if you are seeking a better way to live, but it doesn't say much about how things change when God shows up.

Psalms, on the other hand, reflects upon how one lives with God.

Advice about how to live with God can't be done by anyone. It has to be done out of a place of encounter.

Theology literally means "a word about God." Proverbs can't achieve true theology because they express platitudes rather then rendezvous.

Proverbs points toward a collective human experience (even if it's impetuous is divine). Psalmists begin with the life of faith with a personal (eminent, tangible, relational) God.

Wisdom is common sense seeking imitation.
The Psalms are faith seeking understanding.

BOTH are valuable, but is more useful in theology

Good questions reflect God much better then easy answers

I remember a conversation I had over a decade ago with a friend of mine about the book of proverbs compared to the book of Job. We were sitting at a Burger King and wrestling with how it could be that the book of Job could be included in the Bible along with the book of Proverbs. The two of them seem to be fighting with one another.

Let me explain. In the book of Proverbs there is a series of aphorisms that discuss the relative merits of living a good and moral life. According to Proverbs if you seek God, follow wisdom, work hard, avoid temptation, and act justly you will have a life that is full, long, and blessed.

In Job there is another perspective at work. They show a man that is the paradigm of virtue in Proverbs. One would expect him to have a good, full, and blessed life. However, this man, named Job, suffers a great deal of misfortune. He is covered in boils. His children are all killed. His property is stolen. He is left with nothing.

If one were to come up to Job and read him the book of proverbs it would not be unreasonable for Job to laugh at it's pages outright.

This issue becomes more complex when you look at the book of Psalms.

In Psalms the poets express widely divergent expressions of human life. At times God seems like a close friend who will defend the righteous. At other times God is a far off deity that is presented at aloof and uncaring.

Sometimes both of these themes show up in the same Psalm! (look at Psalm 28)

Some have argued that all of this divergence and conflict is because the theological world view that underlies the psalms radically differs from that behind the wisdom literature.They believe that some authors of the Bible viewed God in completely different ways.

I think that's too easy.

Some of the most interesting writing in the Bible comes out of the moments where paradox abounds. One might argue that the Psalms find their deepest power in places where they don't resolve and the reader is left with a dangling question that infects their minds.

I like having the wisdom literature alongside Psalms because it makes the actual canon of scripture speak with a form of parallelism. The deep truth of God can't be found in a single verse, chapter, or even in a book. God is found in the beauty of the tension between genres. God shows up in the process of trying to resolve the unresolvable.

In other words the canon is a sacred conversation that is never complete, and requires that we participate in the questions raised if the scripture is ever going to have real power.

Good questions reflect God much better then easy answers.

I don't think the biblical authors have a radically different theology. All the books of the Bible declare that it is best to live life in a way connected to THE LORD. They simply are honest with how messy that can be.

Zombies, Snow White and Jesus

How is resurrection different? This is an excerpt from a lesson I did yesterday for my Sunday School class.

Reanimation vs Resuscitation vs Resurrection

Why Read The Psalms?

The Book of Psalms is probably the most read book in the Bible. I know that I read it more then anything else. My prayer habits generally revolve around reading Psalms throughout the day as part of the "divine office" which makes up the backbone of my own prayer life, which I got from Catholic chruch.

• If a Catholic prays the offices every day they will read thrugh all the psalms at least once a month.
• The Lutheran Treasury of Daily prayer also sets up a similar system where you get through the psalms once a month.
• The Anglicans also incorporate the psalms as central part of daily prayer in the Book of Common Prayer.
• The Orthodox Church reads even more psalms in their prayer cycle.  If you read through all the offices in the Orthodox church you will read the entire psalter once a week.
• Jews, likewise, are hugely impacted by the Psalms and they make up a central element of Jewish worship in both the Synagogue and in daily prayer. 
• The Reform worship began as simply singing the Psalms and nothing else 
• Evangelicals also love the Psalms. Many evangelical versions of the New Testament will include the Psalter as well, and most evangelicals know at least Psalm 23 by heart.

No matter what group of Christianity of Judaism one comes from, the Psalms will hold a great deal of prominence in the prayer and worship traditions of that tradition.

There is arguably No collection of poetry in the history of the world that has impacted as many people as deeply and profoundly as the Psalms.

WHY?

Here is my TOP 10 list of things to love about the Psalms:

1. They speak to the entire spectrum of human experience. In them you can rejoice, fear, get angry, love, and experience just about every other emotion.
2. They allow you to worship with your whole body. The psalmists clap, stomp, lift their hands, kneel, bow, shudder,
3. They give room for any expressions you may want to give. You can laugh, shout, be silent, play an instrument, rage, weep, sigh, cry out, yell, bellow, roar, and just about anything else along with the psalms.
4. They are universal. In the church it's sometimes hard to find a way of praying with different. Christian groups in a way that is meaningful to all. The Psalms are a great place to start. Everyone uses them, and loves them.
5. They join you in a timeless community of praise. When you pray the Psalms you are joining with thousands of years of prayer. These same prayers were prayed by the apostles themselves. Jesus even prayed the Psalms. In fact Jesus was reciting Psalm 22 on the cross. Why wouldn't you want to read the prayers that Jesus prayed?
6. They are beautiful. The Psalms have brought me to tears more then once with their beauty. They speak to my soul more then to my mind. The tension that they weave speaks to my very heart.
7. They challenge you. There are some places in the psalms that are hard to deal with. Reading through the Psalms is a good way to force yourself to come face to face with many uncomfortable things about the Bible, God, and Human nature itself. Reading the Psalms is a good way to force yourself into an existential crisis.
8. They can give you words for others. When I minister to the suffering and the dying, I often have nothing to say. I don't have an answer for their sorrow, but I do have the words of the Psalms. There are few things that I have seen that have the power to give people peace in the midst of trial as having a dearly loved Psalm read. There are no words I could offer that come close.
9. They will carry you. In my own life sometimes it's hard to pray. The Psalms give me words and prayers when I can't muster the words myself. The Psalms have kept my relationship with God afloat at many times when nothing else could.
10. They create sacred mental space. I have memorized a fair number of Psalms in their entirety. This is one of the greatest treasures I have. IN my mind there are deeply cut paths of memory that I can sit in any time I want. When I find myself in a place of confusion I sit in a Psalm I have memorized. In a place of beauty, I enter a Psalm. When I need to confess, I kneel on top of a Psalm. The Psalms give me sacred space anywhere I am.

Here are a few of my favorite psalms:

• Psalms 51: This Psalm changed my life. I read it over 10 years ago in a time of sorrow andGod met me in it, and has carried me ever since.
• Psalm 23: This Psalm has comforted me my entire life. It might seem cliche, but I love it deerly.
• Psalm 19: This Psalm has been a deer companion to me for many years and is responsible for most of my theology surrounding creation.
• Psalm 95: I read this Psalm almost every morning. It is a close friend.
• Psalm 22: This Psalm reminds me that Jesus was willing to enter into the utter depths of human brokenness, and therefore I have hope that I can be healed of my deepest brokenness. 

I could go on and on and on.

What Psalms are your favorite?

Does the Arrangement of the Bible Affect What it Says?

If one were to pick up a Jewish Old Testament and compare it to a Protestant Old Testament one would find there were some interesting differences in the Table of Context. The first seven books are the same in both, but after that things start to look a little different. Protestant Bibles include "Ruth" but Jewish Bibles go onto I and II Samuel.

The reason for this is because there are different redactional values that have come to be employed in the organization of the same material.

Jews organize their booksin sections known as:

1. The Torah (teaching) 
2. The Nevi'im (prophets) and
3. The Ketuvim (Writtings)

The most important section for Jewish faith is the "Torah"  so it is placed first, the second section includes most of the books that Protestants consider History as well as MANY of the books the Protestants consider Prophecy, but not all. The last section consists of all the books Protestants consider poetry but also some of the history and prophecy books in the Protestant arraignment.Jews end their bible with the books of I and II Chronicles, which leave the Bible with a sense of hope for the restoration of the kingdom of Israel, even though it leaves things off somewhat in the middle of the story of the Hebrew Bible.

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:
  “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:
   “‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up, and may the LORD their God be with them.’”

 
Protestants Organize their version of the Hebrew Bible along the lines of

1. Law
2. History
3. Poetry
4. Prophets

The Law and History sections tries to tell the story through narrative ending this section in Nehemiah, which is the last narrative book chronologically in the protestant canon. Poetry is made up of everything that isn't really a narritive structure, or a prophetic book. At the end protestants put the books of Prophecy. Which consist primarily of oracles and prophecies, although there are some books that include narratives based around individual prophets (Jonah, and Daniel). These prophets are often thought of ending the book with a different kind of hope.

The last book, Malachi, ends with the words:

“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.  He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

THIS ending points to hope in a person. Christians understand the Elijah spoken of to be John the Baptist. John is the forerunner to Jesus. Christians end their Bibles with what they understand to be a pointer toward the coming of Jesus.

Catholic and Orthodox
Things get even more wild when you look at the Bibles of the two largest groups of Christians in the world today: the Catholics and the Orthodox. Their Bibles are based on the Septuagint, which was a Jewish collection of scriptures in use in the Time of Jesus, before the Jews canonized the Old Testament that is in use in their own tradition (and the version of the Old Testament that was adopted by the protestant reformers in the 16th century).

Instead of leaving a Gap between the Old Testament and the New Testament they include many books composed in what is known by protestants as the "inter-testimonial" period. Rather then believing there was a period of silence they have more of a chronological continuity. Their cannon tells the story of what happened in the centuries that followed Nehemiah. You begin to get a better feel for how Jewish life evolved as the people learned to live under a series of Empires.

The structure of the books follows the same basic divisions that the protestant Bible does (law, history, poetry, prophecy), and it ends with the same book of Malachi leaving

How does the Order of Books in the Bible change how the Bible speaks?

The order of the books frames what's important to a community. They shape how the story is told in a profound way. The table of contents of a Bible is a deeply theological document. Here are a few observations on some of the differences.

• Jews show a deep value for the law, and point to a restored kingdom as a hope.
• Protestants look toward Jesus in their Old Testament, but allow for a time of silence that makes room for a theology of restoration which is foundation to some groups within the tradition (interestingly most of the non-restoration groups included the "removed" books in the Bibles until after restoration sects emerged)
• Catholics and Orthodox are less concerned with what exactly makes the cut. This seems to reflect a reliance on the church as a central authority and the Bible as a central element of tradition, but not the only game in town (Catholics never found it necessary to create a definitive Old Testament list until the Protestant reformation made the Canon a battle ground, and the only source from which they were willing to define dogma).

 What are some observations YOU might make?

Jonah: The Anti-Prophet?

The Bible is a conversation. Some books seem to be responses to other books. Even within some books it seems that one section was written in response to another, or is offered as a balance or corrective.

You can't take the Proverbs seriously unless you also read the book of Job
Joshua needs Judges and both need Ruth
Matthew without Mark Luke and John leaves an incomplete picture

One interesting example of this kind of inter-canonical dialog is found through the book of Jonah. Many scholars have argued that the book of Jonah represents a critique of Israelite prophecy as a whole.

In many ways he best demonstrates what a false prophet looks like rather then a true prophet. Consider the following.

1. He is uncritically PRO- ISRAEL
2. He is reluctant
3. He is disobedient to a direct mission from God
4. He whines about discomfort 
5. He would rather fail and see the Lord kill his enemies then see God's mercy against the Ninivites
6. He is difficult to even talk to

I think of Jonah as more of a comedy or satire then a serious prophetic text. Through it's pages there is truth presented in spite of the prophet rather then through him. It's like an ancient article from the Onion.

In Jonah God is the real hero, NOT the prophet.

I think it's interesting that it is Jonah that Jesus uses as a sign for his authority; of all the prophets only Jonah is completely dependent on God for his success. I like that. It shows that there might even be hope for me.

The Meek will inheret the Earth?

Oracle, the word of יהוה

With these words the books of Zechariah and Malachi both introduce prophetic verses directed toward the people of Israel with words of hope and promises of future glory, but there is something different in these prophecies then those who had prophesied before. These were prophets who were living in a post-exile Israel. They had seen the promises of return fulfilled but life wasn't quite up to the standards promised. People wondered what the God they were serving was up to. Was THIS the best he could do?

• In Malachi 1 these words begin a dialog between יהוה and those still learning to live in a new context as children of Israel in a world after the exile and the return. THE LORD says he has loved the people, and they respond by questioning THE LORD's words. It's like they are declaring, "if you REALLY loved us things wouldn't be so bad." Malachi itself is different in allowing this voice to be heard. He has moved away from the structured poetry and the prophecy itself seems more disjointed.
• In Zechariah 9 the word of THE LORD goes out against the enemies of Israel. The word presents an image of victory  over the enemies of Israel through direct, almost apocalyptic literature. There isn't the kind of militaristic victory presented as in years past. Now victory is seen more mystically.
• In Zechariah 12 the word of THE LORD goes out proclaiming an new kingdom of Israel in eschatological terms. In fact the entire spiritual life of the people seems to have become more eschatological. Instead of prophecy being tangible, with the physical stunts and signs used to communicate the power of the message, now there are angelic figures used to validate the message. (1:9; 5:12; 6:5)

The hope of the people seems to be latching onto a different hope. They seem to believe that there would need to be a massive shift on a cosmic level to restore them. The empires have grown to strong for any reasonable hope of restoration.

Heaven would NEED to break open and God's furry would need to reign down. Hope is found in the eschaton more and more. Only a DIVINE action would be able to bring about the reign of God

This is why I think it's pretty amazing Zechariah and Malachi finish off the Old Testament in protestant Bibles.

If you are reading through a Bible cover to cover you go from an expectation of a divine action of POWER unseen in all of history to the divine action of the incarnation in JESUS who begins his teaching ministry in the New testament with Matthew 5 which tells us that it is not through great POWER that the kingdom will come but through the POOR IN SPIRIT. It is not the might of Angels that will conquer the world but THE MEEK will inheret the earth.

Zechariah and Malachi recognize that there is a great need for a great move of God but no one could have guessed that the great power that would change the world would come through a lamb that was slain. THIS is the Lion of Judah that prevailed (Revelation 5:5-6) this is the great power of God that they looked for.

God vindicates His name by showing that even in poverty he can have the victory, and that through humility there is an eschatological hope greater then that offered by any empire.

Happy Easter!

HE IS RISEN: The Service of the Light

Last night I went to the Roman Catholic Easter Vigil. It was amazing, as usual. The first part of the service is called the Service of the Light. It's pretty awesome, the whole church is dark and slowly a light is brought it. Catechumens lit our candles as the pascal light was processed in. As part of the service the following prayer is prayed. It blew me away.

For the last few months I have been working on a book about death in the early church and so the cross has become a central feature of my studies. As I listened to this prayer it took on more meaning. I began to realize that Easter is the moment when the cross that had hooked sin, death, and the devil by the mouth was pulled up in the power of God and sin was defeated, death was put under foot, and Satan was cast out. 

As you read this amazing prayer below imagine evil being ripped out of it's place of power with each statement. It's pretty amaing!

It is truly right
that with full hearts and minds and voices
we should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful Father,
and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,
and paid for us the price of Adam’s sin
to our eternal Father!
 
This is our Passover feast,
when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.
This is the night when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from slavery
and led them dry-shod through the sea.
What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come as our Redeemer?
 
Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.
O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!
Most blest of all nights, chosen God
to see Christ rising from the dead!
Of this night scripture says:
“The night will be as clear as day:
it will become my light, my joy.”

The power of this holy night
dispels all evil, washes guilt away,
restores innocence, brings mourners joy;
it casts out hatred, brings us peace, and humbles earthly pride.
Night truly blest when heaven is wedded to earth
and man is reconciled with God!
Therefore, heavenly Father, in the joy of this night,
receive our evening sacrifice of praise
your church’s solemn offering.

Accept this Easter candle,
a flame divided but undimmed,
a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God.
Let it mingle with the lights of heaven
and continue bravely burning
to dispel the darkness of this night.
May the Morning Star which never sets
find this flame still burning:
Christ, the Morning Star, who came back from the dead,
and shed his peaceful light on all mankind,
your Son who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

(A Seminary Education) - (Poetic Literacy) ≠ Biblical Literacy

Our culture suffers from a epidemic of benighted bumblings when it comes to poetry in general and this condition is critically deficient in the area of Biblical poetry. 

I have often argued that poetry is one of the most important ways to understand God in the Bible but is the least implemented in the composition of systematic theology or in the development of Christian doctrine. It's deplorable how few people have any idea HOW to read the genre that makes up such a significant part of the Bible. Thankfully there is hope. There are a lot of places that you can get a good education on reading Hebrew Poetry. One of the best resources I have encountered is

This book is one that I would consider a must read for anyone interested in developing a Biblical literacy.

Susan E. Gillingham’s The Poems and Psalms of the Hebrew Bible (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994). The book is part of the Oxford Bible Series which seeks to present readers with a general orientation to the Bible by embracing wider categories of Biblical books than a standard commentary and presenting an introduction to category in a single volume. Gillingham’s volume addresses the Biblical genre of poetry, the area in which She has devoted much of her own life’s work. Gillingham is one of the leading scholars today in the study of the Psalms and Hebrew poetry at Oxford University and she does a masterful job of equipping the reader to approach the poem with imagination as well as technical competence.

I have been amazed at how much more I have gotten out of my daily prayer times as I have read through the Psalms. I have used what I learned to help some of my students at church start to look at Biblical poetry as something powerful and rich for the first time in their lives. I personally consider it one of the greatest treasures I have encountered in my time at seminary. I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in understanding the Bible without hesitation or caveat.

This volume was written in an attempt to present the reader with the tools through which the reader will be able to engage with the Poetry of the Bible with both an appreciation for imaginative interplay of the text on the reader while maintaining a a grasp on how the texts is constructed from a critical perspective. Reading poetry like this requires an understanding of the language of composition, the religious and cultural life of the author and the original audience, that of the Israelite people. Gillingham seeks to present a method for reading the psalms that maintains fidelity to both the critical and imaginative elements at work.

The first part of the book helps readers identify what Hebrew Poetry is, and recognize it when they see it. It views Hebrew poetry as an art form, distinct from prose, that connects the the reader through tensions in the text and intentionality in the form. Hebrew poems often demonstrate tension through the use of parallelism where the meaning of one line is not fully understood unless it is held next to another line. The form is often expressed in a rhythm sometimes seen as metre but it is not imposed on the poetry like many western forms, rather it springs out of an organic expression of language.

The second part of the books delves into where poetry is outside of the Psalter scattered throughout the Law, the wisdom literature, in the rites and practices of worshiping community, and make up a central place in much of the prophetic writings. These writings often show how much Hebrew poetry is tied to particular life settings rather than as functions compositions for literature. They function as a way to both conceal and reveal. They don’t seek to create certainty in their listeners, but are comfortable leaving certain things open ended. This is part of the power of the tension created.

The last part of the book explores the Psalms themselves. Gillingham explores what it means to be a poet. The Psalms present a rich tapestry of voices, each struggling to address their setting in life through their unique vocation as a poet using unique means. How people read these poems has also produced an equally diverse tapestry of opinion.

GO READ IT!

What's an Apocalypse?

When someone says "" more often then not most people's minds conjure up images of the end of the world. We think of images of desolate wastelands, and ravished terrain. We picture cities falling apart and mushroom clouds exploding across the surface of the planet.

Apocalypse, for most people, is associated with the end of the world.

The word apocalypse itself comes from the Greek word Ἀποκάλυψις, which means "revelation" or "unveiling". It is about disclosure not destruction. The term is generally used to describe a genre of literature that was developed gradually by the Jewish people as they interacted with the cultures and literature of the empires that ruled them in the years after the exile until the conquest of the Romans.

It is a form of literature generally depicting eschatological events in a vivid imagery and though starkly dualistic representations of spirituality.This is what scholars mean by “apocalyptic”. Often these books include accounts of the end of the world through a final battle between good and evil. Because of scenes of this nature the genre has gained a reputation in popular culture of dealing primarily with the end of the world.

However, the end of the world is rarely the primary concern of an apocalypse.
Appocolypses are a way of communicating a message of hope to oppressed people. They open up the spiritual realm and teach that even when things seem like there is no hope, there is more at work then meets the eyes. There is a process going on that will result in an ultimate victory for good and a vindication for the righteous.





There is some apocalyptic literature represented in the Bible, although it tends to be very controversial.

Passages in Isaiah like chapters 24-27; 33; and 34-35 show vivid imagery and a developed eschatology so advanced that some scholars have posited that it was inserted in the so called "inter-testimonial" person, while others have argued it represents a proto-apocalyptic genre that was borrowed from and developed into further into what we now know as apocalyptic literature. There are other places in the Hebrew Bible that scholars see as precursors to apocalyptic writing. Scholars generally point to Jeremiah 33:14-26; Joel 3:9-17; and Zechariah 12-14 as examples of this.

In Ezekiel 38-39 there is so much apocalyptic literature that some view these chapters as a mosaic of Biblical references and motifs compiled and redacted by a late apocalyptist who inserted the material in, however it seems more likely that this to represents a proto-apocalyptic development that was particularly influential in the centuries that followed it's composition.

There are only two books in the Bible that people define as "apocalyptic" without caveat. One of these is of course the Apocalypse of John which is also known as Revelation. The other clear example of appocolyptic literature comes from the Book of Daniel. Although the whole book is not apocalyptic chapters 7-13 seem to clearly demonstrate a fully formed expression of the genre.

Finding Restoration Through Exile

A great deal of the Hebrew Bible consists of Jewish reflections on a period of time where many of the citizens of Judah were deported by the Nebuchadnezzar II, king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Nebuchadnezzar had attacked Jerusalem, put it under siege, and destroyed it. Not only did he burn the city, he also destroyed the Temple, which was the center of worship for the people of Judah.


The destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of the people from the land led to an existential crisis of sorts for many of the followers of YHWH. The faith had been understood by many as centering on two central promises of God:

1. The land on which they lived was an inheritance given by God, and therefore no other people had a right to it. The land connected them with their original patriarch, a man named Abraham, who God had chosen to be the father of God's chosen people. The land connected them with their heritage as a part of the twelve tribes who had originally come into the land and fought to have their "rightful" place in the midst of it.
2. The Temple was THE place where god had promises to put his name, and from where the system of covenant could be understood and carried out. The temple was a connection to Moses, through whom God had led His people out of slavery and Egypt and given them the law. It also connected them with the dynasty of a great king named David. David had been the first one to move the center of worship to Jerusalem and his son and successor, Solomon, was credited with the building of the Temple itself.
   

The Exile shook the foundations of Jewish faith to the core.

What was someone supposed to hold onto if the most tangible symbols of God's promise and faithfulness were now Gone?

The faith of the people of Judah became redefined in their tragedy by necessity. It was in this crisis that most scholars believe that the JEWISH faith was born.



Restoration in Judah's history meant far more then a renewal of things that had come before. What had come before had not led them to a good and upright place. There needed to be something more.

Many people look to the "restoration" phase in Israel's history as what happened when they were allowed to reenter the land, rebuild the walls of the city and worship again in the Temple.


I would like to contend that Restoration began when all of these things were taken away from them.
Although restoration can mean something is returned to it's original state, in the case of Judah it makes a lot more sense to think about their restoration as a process of renovation.

 As the people of Judah began to reflect on their faith in a new land and in a new context, they were able to see the world with new eyes. Here are a few examples of how the Exile seemed to operate as a way to begin renovations in the people of Judah.

1. Although they still affirmed that God was at work in a special way through them, they also began to see that other peoples and faiths might have a richness they could learn from.They allowed the beliefs of others to challenge their theological assumptions and began to engage with the sacred tradition that they had with new eyes and an openness to see if God might be doing something bigger then they had ever imagined before. One example of this is the belief in resurrection. Although it was not a seriously discussed issue before the exile, as the Jews came into contact with the Zoroastrian faith they were forced to ask questions about it, and many Jews began to see a thread in their own tradition that pointed to the possibility of a new life for the dead in the future. We can also see similar influences helping the Jewish people to begin to think about angels more deeply and developed a deeper theology about how evil is a work in the world.
2. Before the Exile, life with God was centered in a system of rituals. The community viewed the Temple as the primary place to look to in order to see God moving in the world. After the exile prophets began to talk about God as a presence that could be at work anywhere. As a result the community began to gather in synagogues. These places of meeting made it possible for the chosen community of God, Israel, to gather in worship anywhere in the world. The Jewish faith emerged as a faith that could exist anywhere. Unlike the other 11 tribes that were dispersed around the world never to be heard of again, Judah was able to maintain their identity.

The questions I now have to ask myself is, how much am I willing to let go of strict ideas of where God is moving? If God wanted to show my community of faith new places He was at work, and new means by which God was building His kingdom, would my community have ears open enough to hear it?

I hope so.