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Psalms for Everyone - How to Learn from the Poor
Psalms for Everyone - How to Learn from the Poor
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Learn from the Poor Psalm 41: 1-12 As we arrived at church on Sunday, a homeless man named Alex who sometimes comes to church was sitting in the shade of the parish hall, drawing on a cigarette as he waited for the time of the service. During the service we read the story …
Exodus and Leviticus - How to get to the Promised Land
Exodus and Leviticus - How to get to the Promised Land
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Get to the Promised Land EXODUS 23: 20- 33 Modern people get concerned about the Israelites annihilating the Canaanites. As far as one can tell, it only became an issue in modern times. Although Christians explain their concern by referring to Jesus’ exhortation to love on…
Job for Everyone - I Know That My Restorer Lives
Job for Everyone - I Know That My Restorer Lives
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I Know That My Restorer Lives Job 19: 1- 29 In spring 1741 over a period of twenty-four days, George Frideric Handel set to music a compilation of scriptural texts, mostly from the Old Testament, that had been made by a landowner and patron of the arts called Charles Jennens. In …
Isaiah for Everyone - I'm Fed Up to the Teeth with Your Worship
Isaiah for Everyone - I'm Fed Up to the Teeth with Your Worship
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I’m fed up to the Teeth with Your Worship Isaiah 1: 1-20 We just came home from our Palm Sunday service at church, a great occasion. As usual we began by distributing palm crosses; I can never take for granted that in California we can make our palm crosses from palm branches on …
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - I Want to Know What Love Is
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - I Want to Know What Love Is
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I Want to Know What Love Is Genesis 29:32-30:3 I have just read a review of a TV program about polygamy in the United States. It incidentally notes how one motivation for polygamy is that it can be a route to more children and more money, which fits with the assumptions about pol…
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…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - On Following Up Your Good Ideas but Not Taking Yourself Too Seriously
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - On Following Up Your Good Ideas but Not Taking Yourself Too Seriously
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Following Up Your Good Ideas but Not Taking Yourself Too Seriously 2 Samuel 5: 1- 25 I am coming to the end of my fortieth year as a professor. On Sunday evening, the day before yet another new quarter started, a friend asked me a question that unintentionally made me feel rat…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - On Giving Up Your Son
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - On Giving Up Your Son
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Giving Up Your Son 1 Samuel 1: 25- 2: 10 As I write, two anniversaries have recently passed. Just over thirty years ago the Shah of Iran was ousted and the Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile to become the “Leader” of Iran, a more powerful position than that of the presiden…
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…
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…
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…
The Women's Bible Commentary - David and Saul
The Women's Bible Commentary - David and Saul
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
David and Saul Much of 1 Samuel is dedicated to the fact that Israel’s first king did not establish the dynasty that offers stability to united Israel and later the southern kingdom of Judah; rather, David did. Because of the switch from Saul’s family to David’s, it is possible t…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Disarming the Power of Persecution
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Disarming the Power of Persecution
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Disarming the Power of Persecution: Imitators of the Churches in Judea (1 Thessalonians 2: 13- 3: 13) The Thessalonians are not simply imitators of Paul; they are also imitators of the churches of God in Christ that are in Judea. The Thessalonians’ suffering at the hands of their…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Restoration and the Return of the Divine
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Restoration and the Return of the Divine
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Restoration and Return of the Divine (Ezekiel 25: 1- 48: 35) The oracles against the nations in chapters 25–32 form a kind of hinge in the book, as the scathing, judgment language against Israel comes to an end after the sign-action involving the lack of mourning observance for E…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Status and Authority in God's Realm
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Status and Authority in God's Realm
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Status and Authority in God’s Realm (1 Corinthians 1-4) In the opening section of the letter, Paul addresses the central problem afflicting the church: divisions among its members into competing groups (1:10). Status competition was endemic to the culture, but it was antithetical…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - The Conquest of the Land
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - The Conquest of the Land
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
The Conquest of the Land (Joshua 3-12) Readers are given a good clue as to the direction of the narrative when the captain of YHWH’s army comes to Joshua with a sword in his hand (5:13). He tells Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy” …
The Women's Bible Commentary - The Kandake’s Eunuch
The Women's Bible Commentary - The Kandake’s Eunuch
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
The Kandake’s Eunuch (Acts 8:26–40) The diakonos Philip travels to the desert of Gaza, authorized by “the Spirit” (8:26). His mission: the ideological conquest of “land’s end” to the south: Nubia (or Ethiopia), more specifically the city-state of Meroe ruled by the Kandake (NRSV …
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - The Levirate Widow