Tag Archives: ANE

Psalm 97

This is a coronation hymn for Jehovah as sovereign God over all Creation. It sounds exactly like what you might hear when a parade makes a ceremonial march before the ruler from the gate of the capital to the doors … Continue reading

Posted in bible | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Psalm 97

The Urge to Torment

Sometimes it’s not enough to say it comes from Satan; in our culture that can serve to dismiss any number of horrible sins and leave us no way to uproot them from our own souls. The psychology of Christian Mysticism … Continue reading

Posted in teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Urge to Torment

Answering Final: Otherworld

We come to the end of this series, and frankly some half of what I might have said in the first place shows up in the comments in reply to other comments. It occurs to me one point in particular … Continue reading

Posted in religion | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Answering Final: Otherworld

Answering 08: Forget the Results

A primary emphasis in ancient Hebrew language was to narrate an experience in vivid fashion so that the listener(s) could experience it for themselves on some level. While there is an obvious intent to sway the listener by adding a … Continue reading

Posted in sanity | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Answering 08: Forget the Results

Defacto ANE Family

The original first churches under the leadership of Jesus’ disciples were defacto Hebrew families. Consider the historical cultural context. The Hebrew people lived under ANE feudalism. Their immediate government was their family, and any higher political power was obliged to … Continue reading

Posted in teaching | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Defacto ANE Family

Answering 05: The Moral Sphere

You don’t have to take me seriously, but I am so confident in my message that I’m willing to stand alone against all of humanity at the same time. Insane or not, I assert without a hint of embarrassment that … Continue reading

Posted in sanity | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Answering 05: The Moral Sphere

Answering 04: Radicals

We are more radical than radicals. The world “radical” implies a plan to cut things back to the very roots and try to grow a better crop the next time. What we do here in our parish is more like … Continue reading

Posted in sanity | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Answering 04: Radicals

Proverbs 31

We don’t know who Lemuel was nor should we let the question distract us. About the only useful scholarship we have on the source of this chapter tells us that it seems Aramaic in grammar and character of expression. Up … Continue reading

Posted in bible | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Psalm 91

This is easily one of the best-loved psalms in almost any translation. We are told the Hebrew is quite lyrical in its own right. (Hint: Ephesians 6 echoes some of the thinking here.) So popular was this song that Satan … Continue reading

Posted in bible | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

My Head Was Filled with Crap

Colleges can be cheap in the sense that they often take shortcuts so that the administration can waste funding on self-aggrandizing schemes nobody else knows or cares about. One of the ways they cut corners is to put graduate students … Continue reading

Posted in teaching | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments