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Psalms for Everyone - A Challenge to the Principalities and Powers
Psalms for Everyone - A Challenge to the Principalities and Powers
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Challenge to the Principalities and Powers Psalm 58 A New Year event called the Rose Parade passes our house, and this year the organizers were in a state of panic about possible demonstrations designed to disturb it and make waves on TV. Here as in European cities and a number…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - A Cry from the Grave
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - A Cry from the Grave
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Cry from the Grave Psalm 88 Last night we watched a movie called Incendies about a family caught in an intracommunity conflict in Lebanon in the 1970s and 1980s. It was a fictional movie, but much of the story could be replicated in factual accounts of what happened to people d…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - A Mere Breath
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - A Mere Breath
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Mere Breath Psalm 144 Some years ago I did a little bit of research into tracing my ancestors. These were pre-Internet days, and the research involved poring over ancient volumes in the repository of such records in London. Sometimes I would discover another “John Goldingay” fr…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - A Question of Power
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - A Question of Power
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Question of Power Psalm 110 My wife keeps going on about power. I don’t take it personally. Actually, it works in my favor, because her fixation lies with the way contemporary Western thinking is preoccupied by questions about who has power and about how power features in the r…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - A Servant Leans on His Master
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - A Servant Leans on His Master
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Servant Leans on His Master Psalm 86 The media report that two days ago Christians in Egypt undertook a demonstration related to obstacles put in the way of building a church. The demonstration then became an expression of dissatisfaction with military rule in Egypt, so Muslims…
Psalms for Everyone - Acknowledgments
Psalms for Everyone - Acknowledgments
by SPCK - John Goldingay
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The translation at the beginning of each chapter (and in other biblical quotations) is my own. I have already translated the Psalms in an earlier commentary (Psalms, three volumes, published by Baker Academic in 2006–2008); although I started from scratch for this…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Acknowledgments
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Acknowledgments
by SPCK - John Goldingay
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The translation at the beginning of each chapter (and in other biblical quotations) is my own. I have already translated the Psalms in an earlier commentary (Psalms, three volumes, published by Baker Academic in 2006–2008); although I started from scratch for this…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Amen Anyway
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Amen Anyway
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Amen Anyway Psalm 89:52 There is a play by Elie Wiesel called The Trial of God, set in a concentration camp and based on something the author witnessed at the end of the trial, God is found guilty of crimes against creation and humankind. After a period of silence, a Talmudic sch…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Another Amen
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Another Amen
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Another Amen Psalm 106:48 Whereas the amen at the end of Book Three of the Psalter stands in contrast to Psalm 89 to which it is appended, this amen at the end of Book Four follows nicely on Psalm 106, though perhaps it issues a challenge in that it involves recognizing that our …
Psalms for Everyone - Another Interim Closing Act of Praise
Psalms for Everyone - Another Interim Closing Act of Praise
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Another Interim Closing Act of Praise Psalm 72: 18-20 As the last verse of Psalm 41 is actually the close of Book One of the Psalter, the closing verses of Psalm 72 are not part of this psalm but are an act of worship at the end of Book Two of the Psalter, a little like the “Glor…
Psalms for Everyone - Answer to Prayer Phase Two
Psalms for Everyone - Answer to Prayer Phase Two
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Answer to Prayer Phase Two Psalm 30 In connection with Psalm 16, I have mentioned how a few months ago I met, fell in love with, and proposed to someone, then discovered I had prostate cancer and arranged to have surgery. We had a very moving prayer time in church, and I knew God…
Psalms for Everyone - Be Still and Know That I am God
Psalms for Everyone - Be Still and Know That I am God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Be Still and Know That I Am God Psalm 46 For nearly a thousand years, most of what is now Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and other areas comprised the Holy Roman Empire. It had a legislative assembly confusingly called a diet, which in 1521 met at a Germ…
Psalms for Everyone - Being Blesses and Being a Blessing
Psalms for Everyone - Being Blesses and Being a Blessing
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Being Blessed and Being a Blessing Psalm 21 Yesterday a young Christian man set off an explosion in Oslo, Norway, to preoccupy security forces, then took a ferry to a nearby small island. Hundreds of young people with political connections or political involvement were at camp th…
Psalms for Everyone - Bless Us, and Enable Other People to see for Themselves
Psalms for Everyone - Bless Us, and Enable Other People to see for Themselves
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Bless Us, and Enable Other Peoples to See for Themselves Psalm 67 “God bless America.” The fact that this weekend has been characterized by commemorations of September 11 has made that plea once more resound. Now, the Old Testament is inclined to make a distinction between blessi…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Blessings and Atrocities
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Blessings and Atrocities
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Blessings and Atrocities Psalm 128-129 On the satirical Web site The Onion, one of last week’s headlines proclaimed, “Lack of Media Interest Makes Genocide Cover-Up Unnecessary.” The “story” explained that an African warlord had declared that global disinterest in the wholesale s…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Bring Back! Come Back!
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Bring Back! Come Back!
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Bring Back! Come Back! Psalm 80 It’s nearly three hundred years since the First Great Awakening, a revival of religious life in Britain and even more in the British colonies in America a few decades before the War of Independence. This First Great Awakening was mostly a movement …
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Choose Your Fate
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Choose Your Fate
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Choose Your Fate Psalm 83 Biblical scholar Michael V. Fox has what you might call a typical Jewish background. At the beginning of the twentieth century his grandfather had a narrow escape from pogroms in Russia, when hundreds of Jews were killed and thousands raped, mutilated, a…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Creation as a Reason for Hope