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)”
Category Archives: Faith and politics
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”
Our crisis of truth in society and church
As I have said before, events around us in American society over the last several years have completely flummoxed me. I am left wondering whether and how we know what we think we know. How does anyone know anything? Is it possible to know anything? Anyone who wants to answer that last question affirmatively isContinue reading “Our crisis of truth in society and church”
What the Lord does
Christians who do not think that their mission as Christians entails social and political work have not read the Bible, or have read it strangely. Psalm 146, one of the great psalms of praise that conclude the Psalter begins with “Praise Yah!” It ends with “Praise Yah!” (“Yah” being a shorter form of the divineContinue reading “What the Lord does”
Our national Sankofa journey
One of the opportunities offered by the the Evangelical Covenant Church (and some other churches) is Sankofa. As the linked page explains, “Sankofa” is an African word that means going back to retrieve something. In the ECC, Sankofa is implemented as a bus tour into the American South. You are paired with a fellow travelerContinue reading “Our national Sankofa journey”
From generation to generation: Comments on Mary Trump’s story of how the Trump family produced Donald
[I have not posted for several days because my reading-writing time was occupied with reading and thinking about this book. Here are some thoughts.] As I read Mary Trump’s Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man, I kept thinking of the phrase “from generation to generation.” Her bookContinue reading “From generation to generation: Comments on Mary Trump’s story of how the Trump family produced Donald”
Think on these things
I took yesterday afternoon and evening off. My wife and I reconnected with old college friends of hers, more recent friends of mine. We spent hours talking. We were with them on a Chris-Craft boat that has been in his family since his grandfather bought in the year when he was three years old (=Continue reading “Think on these things”
What you can do with an English major; or, How to be a pro bono counterintelligence operative
What can you do with an English major? I’m gonna tell ya. Well, I should confess: I’m not a real English major. But I hereby confer an honorary English major upon myself, on account of Mrs. MacMeans and Mrs. Stallard and Miss Mann and Mrs. Garrett and others did such a smash-up job of teachingContinue reading “What you can do with an English major; or, How to be a pro bono counterintelligence operative”
What to do about disagreements between Christians?
“If anyone thinks otherwise” (a phrase from Philippians 3:15) . . . what then? What to do about disagreements? A lot depends on whether or not there is a context of mutual trust and affection. Within the New Testament, if you were to read Paul’s letter to the Galatians side-by-side with Paul’s letter to theContinue reading “What to do about disagreements between Christians?”
The stable genius who harnessed the power of nuclear fission
For four years I have lived in bafflement.How can so many of us have suddenly taken leave of our senses and dived or fallen so deep into delusion?No answer yet.But—here’s the flash—what if the question was wrong? Over the last four years I reckon I have devoured thousands of news articles and analytical essays, read perhaps dozens ofContinue reading “The stable genius who harnessed the power of nuclear fission”
Verba Sparsa 