Author Archives: James Ernest

Our wonderful president’s inspiringly patriotic Independence Day speech

Read it. The most dishonest speech since the last time this lying, hate-mongering moron opened his mouth. Not that he could have written a word of it himself, apart from the grunts and glitches that he inserted on the fly. Summary: The Democrats in general, and BLM protestors en masse, are out to destroy America’sContinue reading “Our wonderful president’s inspiringly patriotic Independence Day speech”

A day of freedom

  TO MY FACEBOOK FRIENDS,to childhood friends,   sharers of mixed memories      of coming of age in Old Virginia,to new friends who connected recently,   because our ideas interest each other,to family members, close and distant,   those I share life with,      and the distant cousins we never see,to my formal teachers over the years,   saints and quasi-parents in my esteem,to the other peopleContinue reading “A day of freedom”

Knowing oneself, knowing others (Psalm 139)

Psalm 119, section He, highlights knowledge of God and knowledge of self. In Psalm 139, this question of knowledge of self is paramount: Who knows the truth about me, the truth inside me? Do I know it myself? Do you know the truth inside me? Inside yourself? Does anyone? Am I in a position toContinue reading “Knowing oneself, knowing others (Psalm 139)”

In Memoriam: James D. G. Dunn (Eerdword)

“Everyone enjoyed the evening with you. We are growing accustomed to your face, a custom which grows by what it’s fed on.” So wrote Bill Eerdmans Jr. to “Dear Jimmy” Dunn on December 4, 1996, following up on a dinner at the SBL meeting at New Orleans a couple of weeks earlier. Bill had written toContinue reading “In Memoriam: James D. G. Dunn (Eerdword)”

I have a friend who loves making the Bible strange

I have a friend who loves making the Bible strange.He finds the quirky places,reads them out,wide-eyed,astonished,and scans your face,looking for you to be astonished too. He finds places that don’t line upwith what they always said in church.And if you have been thinkingthat these texts are comfortable,that they line up perfectly—then look again: are youContinue reading “I have a friend who loves making the Bible strange”

Praying Psalm 118: Who is the cornerstone?

“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” What stone is this? Who is the cornerstone? The key, perhaps, in praying the Psalms is to know who is speaking. This is the question of “person.” Who is this “I”? Already in the text of the Psalm the I is complex. The I isContinue reading “Praying Psalm 118: Who is the cornerstone?”

Going to heaven? Why the heck not?

Here’s another paradox of “biblical” Christian theology. “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9) What could be clearer? The apostle tells us that no one has imagined, noContinue reading “Going to heaven? Why the heck not?”