John Goldingay
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Looking Forward and Backward
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Looking Forward and Backward
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Looking Forward and Backward JOSHUA 4: 1- 5: 1 Yesterday I was comparing notes with a woman who lost her father the same month I lost my wife. She mentioned that her mother wasn’t prepared to look forward, to imagine what the future would be like, and was only prepared to look ba…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - On Getting Your Feet Wet
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - On Getting Your Feet Wet
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Getting Your Feet Wet JOSHUA 3: 1-17 So the people crossed over near Jericho. 17The priests carrying the chest of Yahweh’s covenant stood steady on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan while all Israel was crossing on dry ground until the entire nation had finished crossing o…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Meanwhile, in the Whorehouse
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Meanwhile, in the Whorehouse
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Meanwhile, in the Whorehouse JOSHUA 2: 1-24 In this commentary, Joshua 2 is the only chapter for which I will not attempt to provide an opening story in accordance with the usual format of The Old Testament for Everyone series. How could I compete with this actual story about the…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Just One River to Cross
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Just One River to Cross
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Just One River to Cross JOSHUA 1: 1-18 As I write, I listen to CDs, or rather I half-listen. I do not pay too much attention to the words, though sometimes they catch me out. One day the title phrase of Jimmy Cliff ’s “Many Rivers to Cross” caught my attention, and I listened mor…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Introduction
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Introduction
by SPCK - John Goldingay
INTRODUCTION As far as Jesus and the New Testament writers were concerned, the Jewish Scriptures that Christians call the “Old Testament” were the Scriptures. In saying that, I cut corners a bit, as the New Testament never gives us a list of these Scriptures, but the body of writ…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Acknowledgments
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Acknowledgments
by SPCK - John Goldingay
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The translation at the beginning of each chapter of this book (and in other biblical quotations) is my own. I have stuck closer to the Hebrew than modern translations often do when they are designed for reading in church so that you can see more precisely what the…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - GLOSSARY
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - GLOSSARY
by SPCK - John Goldingay
GLOSSARY aide A supernatural agent through whom God appears and works in the world. English translations call them “angels,” but this suggests ethereal figures with wings, wearing diaphanous white dresses. Aides are humanlike figures; hence it is possible to give them hospitality…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Dying outside the Promised Land
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Dying outside the Promised Land
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Dying outside the Promised Land Deuteronomy 32: 48- 34: 12 I just read the obituary of a fine trumpet player and singer and even lovelier flugelhorn player, Stacy Rowles, who died after a car accident. My personal memory is of the way she once came to give a CD to my wife, Ann…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Moses' Last Song
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Moses' Last Song
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Moses’ Last Song Deuteronomy 31: 1- 32: 47 In commenting on Deuteronomy 1, I referred to a service of contrition in our Episcopal diocese concerning the way we had treated African Americans. In the early decades of the twentieth century, in different parts of greater Los Angeles …
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - The Mystery of Obedience and Disobedience
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - The Mystery of Obedience and Disobedience
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Mystery of Obedience and Disobedience Deuteronomy 29: 1- 30: 20 My wife and I often used to go for lunch on a Saturday or Sunday to a restaurant hanging over the ocean where you can watch the surf (I have simple tastes), but we would leave in the early afternoon before the pl…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Curses and Blessings and Curses
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Curses and Blessings and Curses
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Curses and Blessings and Curses Deuteronomy 27: 1- 28: 68 Last night I had a lovely dinner with some students. I accepted a second helping of pasta and a second glass of wine, and ate a magnificent brownie dessert with strawberries and ice cream. When it came to coffee, I decline…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - A Wandering Aramean Has Become a Great Nation
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - A Wandering Aramean Has Become a Great Nation
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Wandering Aramean Has Become a Great Nation Deuteronomy 26: 1-19 Last Friday we had our harvest celebration at the seminary, and a great occasion it was. There was a wide range of food cooked by people of different ethnic backgrounds; there were games for children; there were r…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Maintaining the Family Name
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Maintaining the Family Name
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Maintaining the Family Name Deuteronomy 25: 1-19 I have just read about a court in Britain sending a woman to prison for killing someone in a car crash that happened while she was texting. The victim’s mother and the prosecution are appealing for a stiffer sentence. The newspaper…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Sacred Inefficiency
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Sacred Inefficiency
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Sacred Inefficiency Deuteronomy 24: 1-22 Just once in my life I had to give someone the sack because we needed to economize in the seminary and we saw a post we could terminate without too much loss to the enterprise’s efficiency. The person had worked for the seminary for man…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Attitudes to Egyptians (and Others)
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Attitudes to Egyptians (and Others)
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Attitudes to Egyptians (and Others) Deuteronomy 23: 1-25 I have recently been to two concerts where the band included musicians from British towns within an hour or two of my own hometown—singer Graham Nash and guitarist Slash. Both have lived in Los Angeles for decades, and I do…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Sex in the City
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Sex in the City
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Sex in the City Deuteronomy 22: 13-30 I’ve been reading a book that interweaves the story of three iconic 1960s singer-songwriters—Carole King, Carly Simon, and Joni Mitchell. The key to Joni Mitchell’s life story and music is something that happened when she was a teenager and t…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Keeping Things Separate
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Keeping Things Separate
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Keeping Things Separate Deuteronomy 22: 1-12 A house where we once lived in England had a small back garden with a nice rose patch but no room for growing vegetables (the previous occupant was a big gardener but had an allotment elsewhere for growing huge amounts of things to …
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Murder Desecrates the Land