Dec 24, 2013
Waiting is profoundly difficult; all the more so when you know the one you are waiting one is capable of acting immediately. Yet this is God’s call to exiled Israel – to wait upon the Lord for the day of salvation (in this case release from captivity). But this waiting is not to be passive […]
Dec 18, 2013
How do we reconcile the wrath and love of God??? The images of gentle shepherd seem so at odds with those of a punishing judge we are tempted to imagine they describe different deities. And yet both wrath and grace are such inextricable dimensions of the God of the Bible that neither be dismissed....
Dec 11, 2013
What is prophecy in the Bible? And what is a prophet? And why do I feel I want little to do with either? My personal allergy to the word “prophecy” stems from the fact that most contemporary discussion thereof involve a vast departure from the biblical understanding. From Harold Camping’s dating of the end of...
Dec 5, 2013
Great poetry generally makes for difficult reading. The words and phrases may be simple enough, even simplistic. But the very nature of poetry is to pick up where language fails – to articulate the ineffable. And thus readers of poetry face the dual challenge of interpretation and introspection. We must...
Nov 26, 2013
In the polytheistic culture of the Ancient Near East, deities were worshipped by means of sacrifices made in particular places. Most gods were considered to have what we might consider “regional” power (the Babylonians having a few patron deities vs. those of say the Assyrians); and within those regions to...