Call me Deucalion. Some years ago – never mind how long
exactly – before Utnapishtim, before Noe, I was alone, having little or no
money in my pocket and nothing left of my home, that city of the air – and driven
on by hunger and by whales, by deluge and assault, driven by misery and loneliness,
I set sail upon the impetuous waters.
I stand on the deck, spyglass in hand, a fleet of shipwrecked vessels to the
left and to the right of me. The earth shakes with aqueous weapons; trembling
waves crashed over me. The air vibrates with strange motions. The sea made red
with the blood of my enemies and my friends, the perturbed waters shall over
run, spoiling the world. Blood flows and a flood of blows bringing great
destruction and unholy enjoyment. Bringing murder and a damnable legend.
No one can swim. I am alone. In the ark with me, this chest,
this coffin, there is lightning and gold.
The solitude of my cabin is too much for me to endure so I follow the migration
charts of the great sea monsters, guided by some infallible urge. This is the
monster, the stuff of nightmares in the deep and the fear of blood. All human
connection is severed. All human connection is death, flood waters and love,
heartache and longing upon the surface of the waters. A brooding loner. The blue
divide between water and sky. Everything is horizon, the vast, unending circle
surrounding me.
I was born and killed by water. Now surrounded by water, waves, alone without a
shore. Leviathan maketh a path to my door, but I will not answer his call.
Call me Deucalion, but I was a lover
once, when the world was sweet wine and gentle wind. I was a gentle lover with
stars and fire and magic melodies for a maiden. I sang love songs and danced
the round for her and we two dreamed of a world that we could make our own. But
that was long ago – never mind how many years exactly – too long for the
remembering. The moon was mine, once, mine to give to her. But the moon is
fleeting and she, like the moon, is drowned in the terrible sea. Never trust
the moon. Never trust the sea. The moon doesn’t speak any more and the sea says
too much.
Greetings and Salutations! Welcome to the Biblioblog Carnival roundup for April 2016 - a collection of blog posts, videos, podcasts and tweets relevant to the broad field of biblical studies posted last month. These may not have been the BEST of ALL possible blog posts, videos, podcasts and tweets, but they are ones that caught my eye and captured my interest. I've hosted the biblioblog in the past, and now as then, I've utilized a more-is-more, throw the spaghetti against the wall and see what sticks kind of approach. Jim West at Zwinglius Redivivus will, no doubt, be much more selective in his own version of the Carnival.
To be merciful means to grow in a love which is courageous, generous and real.
It seems as though God’s voice – the lion’s roar – may be a
much more central theme in the book than I had initially thought. The cutting
of the lines of communication comes up again and again as both Israel and God
do it. It is this cutting of contact that warrants Israel’s punishment, and it
is also the punishment itself. Amos’s role as intercessor in Amos 7 becomes so
much more important, because it is through the prophets that Israel might “seek
the Lord and live. As we move through the book, we find that God’s voice is
linked to sin, punishment, and even salvation.
… although in the recent past (e.g., just a few decades ago) violence against
women was not the subject of international attention or concern, it has now
“come to be recognized as a legitimate human rights issue and as a significant
threat to women’s health and well-being.” The fact that there is now much more focus
on gender-based violence is such a good thing, so right, so important. Of
course, the witness of Scripture (and this is one of the reasons for recounting
Dinah’s story here) is that gender-based violence is a very old problem.
The strength of the article lies in its identification of
the extent of literacy in far-flung reaches of Judea, among various ranking
members of the military and military administration. It would be not too rash
to say that, given the literacy levels in the military establishment, we would
expect that scribal literacy would be competent to produce more literary works
of the forms which we find in the Hebrew Bible/Tanach. Indeed, the Tell Deir
‘Alla plaster inscription, written in a Hebrew dialect and located bang in the
middle of Israelite territory during the period of its hegemony in the region,
dates some two centuries before this. So scribes would be capable of the
literary forms found in the Hebrew Bible. This doesn’t really tell us about the
general literacy in the wider population, as the article implies it does. But
more important is the question of literacy among the elites, which the article
provides reasonable evidence for.
The Odes cast a
spell. Something beautiful is happening here. It has a literary integrity I
think that’s very important. The Odes are very unusual in the different imagery
that they come up with. But that imagery is used again and again. One place
where the Odes seem to have mined this imagery is the Book of Psalms. And Rendel Harris, the great scholar who really brought the
Odes to the attention of the modern world, refers to these Odes as Psalm
pendants. It’s as though the congregation might have sung a particular Psalm,
and then, the Odes would’ve been sung as a response to it. And so many of the
Odes when one reads through them one realizes that the imagery of Psalm 45 is
being used or Psalm 63 is being used. And that’s one of the beautiful things
about these Odes is that they’re so close to scripture.
Although the
Testament of Moses is cut off half-way through the manuscript, it is
nonetheless helpful in reconstructing ideologies and worldviews from the Levant
in the 1st century C.E., and even earlier if we assume the text had previous
written and oral traditions preceding it’s composition. The testament claims to
be “the prophecy which was made by Moses in the book of Deuteronomy”; however,
while it takes up a similar tone, the testament incorporates material relevant
to the Maccabean Period, indicative of the late date of the text.
Based on the
previous information, it is evident that we should read the Testament of Moses
as its own piece of literary work, self-sustaining and independent. What we
will consider today is Moses’ role as a divinator in the Testament of Moses.
*James McGrath is trying to find a balance between naive
credulity and extreme skepticism with respect to the Gospels and other early
Christian sources in description of Jesus’ death in Philippians 2: 6 – 11. Philippians 2 and the Historical Jesus It is striking to turn in light of this to Philippians
2:6-11. If Paul is there quoting a hymn, then this might be our earliest source
of information about the death of Jesus, as well as about how Christians
understood it. In that passage, Jesus’ death is nothing else but the
culmination of his obedience, leading to his exaltation.
That's what upsets me about crowds cheering and thrilling to
calls to bomb ISIS, so-called "Christians" who are viewing violence triumphalistically rather than tragically. Because Jesus said "put
your sword away" Christians can never cheer violence. We must only grieve
it.
...if Jesus silenced confession of him as Messiah how
much more would have silenced for strategical reasons any suggestions of his
deity. I find the logic solid, if not compelling.
Revelation 4-5 is built first on the foundation of the
Hebrew Bible. There are several texts which describe God as enthroned, such as
Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1-2. In both of these passages the prophet sees a vision
of God enthroned in heaven surrounded by otherworldly angelic creatures
(seraphim in Isaiah, cherubim in Ezekiel). In both cases the prophet is stunned
by the vision and eventually commissioned to a prophetic office. In Revelation
4 there is a central throne, angelic beings, but John is not a prophet as much
as an observer of the impending judgment contained in the scroll given to the
Lamb to open.
I had the privilege of attending last night’s debate on “Did Jesus Exist?”
between two well-versed debaters – Dr. Craig Evans and Dr. Richard Carrier.
When I learned of this debate, I wanted to take advantage of listening to
Carrier, who is probably the world’s foremost mythicist scholar. In other
words, I felt that this debate would expose me to the best arguments scholars
could put forth suggesting Jesus was simply made up in history. Now I took
plenty of apologetic classes in my undergraduate and graduate studies to become
convinced of the overwhelming evidence regarding Jesus’ existence, but I could
not pass up the chance to listen to Richard Carrier live. So I piled up my car
with a few of my bright students and we took off to witness the debate. Here are some of my observations of last night’s event:
I know that might not seem very reverent, especially since Romans is often
thought of as the primo example of Paul at his difficult yet nevertheless
logically consistent best, where he once and for all lays out the basics of the
gospel for all to hear and for all time. Not that Romans is a jumbled mess—may it never be (see what I did
there?)—but to me Romans reads more like Paul is in creative-problem-solving
mode for Roman Christians facing a pressing problem (how Jews and Gentiles make
up one people of God) than Paul sitting in his study writing a theological
treatise intended for wider publication.
Is there a vast international conspiracy to convince you that Jesus was a real
person? Well, not really. It’s a game of probabilities. Scholars say that,
given the evidence we have, it’s more likely than not that there was an actual
dude named Jesus walking around in the desert 2000 years ago. Of course, you
are free to draw your own conclusions, and a belief in Gnosticism certainly
does not need to include a belief in a historical Jesus.
Too often, Christian writers and
commentators assume (or do not question) an equivalency between femininity and
the female; therefore, the mere presence of female bodies within a church’s
congregation is believed to engender an effeminate style of Christianity. Evangelicalism’s
enduring phobia of “liberal” feminism is largely to blame, and has made its
members ignorant of even the most innocuous principles of basic gender theory:
namely, that there is a distinction between biological sex and gender identity,
that humans are responsible for creating culturally contingent gender roles
(not God), and that both men and women hardly ever conform completely to their
prescribed roles.
If you are heterosexual, married, divorced, and remarried
with an understanding parish priest, you have reason to be hopeful that your
“irregular situation” can be fixed. If you use most forms of effective birth
control, have an abortion, or are a sexually active LGBTIQ Catholic, you might
as well read Dante and/or seek another denomination if you expect to be treated
with equality, dignity, and respect. ... The “Joy Love Club” is members-only.
Too often the 'just war theory' has been used to
endorse rather than prevent or limit war," they continue. "Suggesting
that a 'just war' is possible also undermines the moral imperative to develop
tools and capacities for nonviolent transformation of conflict…We need a new
framework that is consistent with Gospel nonviolence," say the
participants, noting that Francis and his four predecessors have all spoken out
against war often. "We propose that the Catholic Church develop and
consider shifting to a Just Peace approach based on Gospel nonviolence.
Of course, even if Christians did engage in
contextualization—expressing their message and worship in the language or forms
of the local people—that in no way implies doctrinal compromise. Christians
around the world have sought to redeem the local culture for Christ while
purging it of practices antithetical to biblical norms. After all, Christians
speak of "Good Friday," but they are in no way honoring the worship
of the Norse/Germanic queen of the gods Freya by doing so.
But, in fact, in the case of Easter the evidence suggests
otherwise: that neither the commemoration of Christ's death and resurrection
nor its name are derived from paganism.
Today, America seems divided between those who engage with some version of the
prosperity gospel and those who smugly dismiss it as fraudulent and puerile.
While there are a number of problems with the gospel, it’s important to look at
why this strand of religious thinking evolved in the first place, and why it
persists.
I believe salvation is not from hell but to good works (Eph.
2.8-10). Salvation is not a momentary conversion, but a process of ontological
importance. It is found in the Creed, but never defined. However, Protestantism
usually sees it in terms of avoidance of hell. You’ll here mentioned “we
deserved hell” and “we aren’t worthy.” Yet, Scripture never declares these
things as well as the Reformers did. For Scripture, and Orthodoxy (and
Wesleyanism), Salvation begins with the love of God, ending in the positive,
rather than the negative.
It was assumed back in the 1970s that these bones were
buried and no longer available for analysis–but it turns out this is not the
case. What is even more intriguing, the victim was arguably none other than
Matitiyahu Antigonus–the last of the Hashmonean kings–who was both beheaded and
crucified by Marc Anthony. in 37 BCE. And even more significant, Greg Doudna
has persuasively argued that this Antigonus is none other than the famed
“Teacher of Righteousness” in the Dead Sea Scrolls,
*Archaeology News Network - Reported that construction workers in Gaza have discovered ancient ruins
that archaeologists say may be part of a Byzantine church dating from around
1,500 years ago, The findings include segments of marble pillars with ornate Corinthian
capitals, one nearly three meters (yards) long, and a 90 cm (35 inch)
foundation stone bearing a Greek symbol for Christ. Fifteen pieces have been
uncovered, with excavations continuing.
According to Dina Avshalom-Gorni, the project’s chief
archaeologist on behalf of the IAA, “the incense shovel that was found is one
of ten others that are known in the country from the Second Temple period. From
early research in the world it was thought that the incense shovel was only
used for ritual purposes, to care for the embers and incense that were burnt in
ritual ceremonies. Over the years, after incense shovels were discovered in a
non-cultic context, it appears they were also used as tools for daily tasks.
The incense shovel and jug found in our excavation were exposed lying next to
each other on the floor in one of the rooms, at the late Second Temple period
storehouses that is located adjacent to the dock of the large Jewish
settlement, on the shore of Sea of Galilee. These implements might have been
saved in the storeroom as heirlooms by a Jewish family living at Migdal, or
they may have been used for daily work as well.”
“I think that people need to worship and believe in GOD regardless of their belief. This is a free country.” pic.twitter.com/VM8sY6dmlt
Given that I have sat on both sides of the interview
table–as both candidate looking for a post, and as President or Academic Dean
looking to fill a post–I thought I might offer a few reflections on the
interview process. In particular, I want
to help candidates know what we are really looking for in a potential
professor. I say “really” because I think candidates often misunderstand what
we are looking for. And, due to that misunderstanding, sometimes candidates are
simply heading down an unhelpful path in the interview process.And when I say
“we” I am thinking particularly of those leaders in the world of evangelical
seminaries. Those in university
settings, or those who are not evangelical, are unlikely to offer the same
advice.
It’s like they’re ripping off the plot of Miracle on 34th Street. Only this
time, it’s set in Arkansas at the state capitol. And instead of trying to
establish whether or not Santa Claus is real, now they are trying to determine
if Jesus was real. Because that would totally happen in real life in a court of
law. And it’s totally relevant to the case at hand.
This may be the most important book in Christology to appear
in recent years. Written in an era when it has become increasingly popular to
insist that Jesus is already depicted as a pre-existent figure in the Synoptic
Gospels, one who is absorbed into the “divine identity,” Daniel Kirk makes a
persuasive case for viewing the depiction of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, and Luke
as one of idealized humanity. Unlike many other proposals, this category, and
this volume in which it is proposed, does good justice to the evidence, and is
likely to stand the test of time.
And even when the NT writers were transforming the OT text in creative ways,
for example as Paul does in Gal. 4, these improvisations presuppose a stable
text to which one can return again and again, and use in a variety of ways. I
would use the analogy of say John Coltrane’s famous version of the Sound of
Music song ‘My Favorite Things’. ‘Trane was not trying to faithfully ‘exegete’
that song, he was rather using it as a taking off point for a creative
improvisation, but at the same time he was well aware of what playing the tune
straight amounted to and sounded like, and he presupposed that his audience did
as well (they could look at a copy of the original sheet music or put on the
recording of the Sound of Music), so they could appreciate where he was, so to
speak, playing outside the lines on the staff paper. I think, in other words,
that figural interpretation was only one of the tools in the hermeneutical
toolbox of the Gospel writers, and it was not one they always used, certainly
not to the exclusion of other ways of using the OT.
I am not trying to make the case that no music is sacred. On
the contrary, I am more inclined to make the opposite case and argue that all
music is sacred. Music takes vibrations in the physical world and combines them
in ways that we perceive as beautiful. And so music by definition points
towards transcendence, towards the fact that there is more to life that what
one perspective can do justice to. And since music is a pointer towards God, it
makes sense to use music – any music – as an opportunity to talk about one’s
faith and the things that are important to us.
Ruben Zimmermann’s Puzzling the Parables of Jesus:
Methods and Interpretations is a very fine work. One value of the book is
that it consciously seeks to bring together current German and American
research on the parables. Another important feature is that Zimmermann applies
recent research on historiography and memory to the interpretation of the
parables. This post will highlight a third contribution of the book, namely
Zimmermann’s perceptive discussion of the genre of parable and his convincing
suggestion that there are, in fact, parables in John. In Memoriam
“Dan was one of the great Catholics of our time, a champion
of social justice and a tireless promoter of peace…His influence on the peace movement,
particularly during the Vietnam War, cannot be overstated, but his aim was not
simply peace in Indochina, but peace everywhere.” Berrigan was one of seven
Catholic priests who used napalm to burn draft cards in 1968 in protest against
the Vietnam War, according to the National Catholic Reporter. As a result, he
was sentenced to three years in prison.
The great Daniel Berrigan, SJ, Jesuit priest, activist, poet and peacemaker, died today. May he rest in peace. pic.twitter.com/SYcdaF2Zqq
*Poet and Prophet A literary giant in his own right, Berrigan was
best known for his dramatic acts of civil disobedience against the Vietnam War
and nuclear weapons. He burned draft files with homemade napalm and later
hammered on nuclear weapons to enact the Isaiah prophecy to “beat swords into
plowshares.” His actions challenged Americans and Catholics to reexamine their
relationship with the state and reject militarism. He constantly asked himself
and others: What does the Gospel demand of us?
June 2016 (July 1) – Kris Lyle at Old School Script, @KristopherLyle
After that there's nothing - unless you act now. Phil Long at Reading Acts, who organizes these events, would love for you to volunteer as host for upcoming biblioblog carnivals. Contact him PLEASE! (via Twitter @plong42 ) if you're interested.
