Category Archives: Bible study

Psalm 104: Introduction

What do we mean when we call the Scriptures divine revelation? Many things. One thing we mean: Scripture is text that expresses and inculcates a way of seeing everything (i.e., our lived world, everything that we are to some extent capable of seeing). It is transcendent-truthful vision: “Transcendent” meaning that it shows more deeply thanContinue reading “Psalm 104: Introduction”

Psalm 95 and discipleship failure: An invitation and a warning

O come, let us sing unto the LORD:let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving,and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.For the LORD is a great God,and a great King above all gods.In his hand are the deep places of the earth:theContinue reading “Psalm 95 and discipleship failure: An invitation and a warning”

The wicked, God, and me (Psalm 5, day 1)

Psalm 5 sounds perennial themes. These themes recur throughout the Psalter, throughout the Bible, and throughout the life of the person who would follow God and live righteously: wicked people, God, and oneself. What happens if we try to take this psalm as a paradigm, a model, of how to relate these three constants? TheContinue reading “The wicked, God, and me (Psalm 5, day 1)”

The tragic irony (possibly?) of white American evangelical Christianity

Everything that Jesus ever said was true, but not everyone who heard was able to grasp his meaning. Those in his environment who were most certain that they and not others possessed religious and spiritual truth—faithful disciples though they might believe themselves to be, and might to all appearances have been, of the same greatContinue reading “The tragic irony (possibly?) of white American evangelical Christianity”

Scriptures for the day

There have been people who have memorized vast swathes of scripture.  I wish I were one of them! I would love to be able to rehearse the entire Psalter from memory, as did some ancient monks. I would love to be able to answer yes, as did at least one well-known (among peers, not amongContinue reading “Scriptures for the day”

At the lowest point: hope

This year 2020 is a low year in the life of American Christians in so many ways. I will not enumerate them here, because we all know it, but we have different perspectives on how bad things are, and on what exactly is making them bad, and by enumerating them I would necessarily convey myContinue reading “At the lowest point: hope”

How to think and pray about wicked rulers (Psalm 58)

Psalm 58, like so many psalms, complains about human injustice but has a slightly different way of presenting the problem. Here the issue is cast as a drama in which the human actors are adam, the people, and elim or elohim, the “gods.” The narrator and suppliant—the psalmist—speaks on behalf of the people to elohim,Continue reading “How to think and pray about wicked rulers (Psalm 58)”

Striking a pose: Psalm 18 and positional righteousness

Picking up from yesterday: what has gone wrong with us—members and heirs of certain American Christian traditions—that what we believe and do diverges so starkly from the ways of the one we claim to follow? I said yesterday it’s all about truth. It’s also all about righteousness. The two are closely related. With regard toContinue reading “Striking a pose: Psalm 18 and positional righteousness”