Verba Sparsa
Psalm 119:17–24 (Gimel)
What is my relationship with Scripture? How do I experience it? How do I describe it? What is it to me? In certain stages of my formation there were voices that emphasized words like “inerrancy.” In truth, though, despite my formation in evangelical circles, these were never the voices of my own teachers. To beContinue reading “Psalm 119:17–24 (Gimel)”
Henry Wallace, varieties of fascism, and two classes of Trumpists (an experiment in diagnosis)
In which I discover Henry Wallace and reflect on his his diagnosis of different types of fascism in his 1944 essay about American fascism. I suggest two different types of Trumpism and conclude that both types are fascist, in the way in which Wallace understood fascism.
The point of Psalm 139
The point of Psalm 139 is not theological speculation, and certainly not prooftexting for contemporary partisan politics, but to move me to desire to seek God’s leading.
Nation-state myth and the Kingdom of God; or patriotism and salvation history
If we are Christian, the story that we tell about our nation will be compatible with and subordinate to the story that God is writing in the history of salvation.
On dissing (or not) the ESV
(My reply to a friend’s comment pointing out that the English Standard Version of the Bible was conceived as a complementarian blast in our culture wars, as can be seen by its manipulation of several gender-related passages.) The ESV “translators” fiddle with more than a few gender-related passages. They know more than the Bible andContinue reading “On dissing (or not) the ESV”
You thought that I was one just like yourself (Psalm 50)
Psalm 50 opens with an announcement of coming of God to call the people of the covenant to account. On the day of judgment God shines forth and “does not keep silent” but speaks forth. The reader of this psalm should remember the nonsilence of the heavenly Judge with some trepidation on arrival at verseContinue reading “You thought that I was one just like yourself (Psalm 50)”
What I have seen and where I stand: my Democratic manifesto
Why and how I have come to believe that as a Christian citizen of the United States of American in 2021 I must support the Democratic Party.
My voice to the Lord (Psalm 142)
How shall I use my voice? The opening lines of Psalm 142 are striking, with their repeated “qoli le-Adonai”: “My voice to the Lord . . . my voice to the Lord.” I have a voice too. How will I use mine? To whom will I direct mine? I am not in the situation ofContinue reading “My voice to the Lord (Psalm 142)”
When the crowds of followers gather, watch for hypocrisy—in our leaders, in ourselves
“While the crowd was gathered together by the thousands, so as to trample upon each other, he began to speak to his disciples first: take heed to yourselves from the leaven, i.e., hypocrisy, of the Pharisees. And nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be made known. So whateverContinue reading “When the crowds of followers gather, watch for hypocrisy—in our leaders, in ourselves”
How to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122)
Zion, Zionism, and Christian interpretation of the Psalms of Ascents.
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