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Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - How to Be a Mixed-up Person
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - How to Be a Mixed-up Person
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Be a Mixed-up Person JUDGES 6:25- 40 This week I asked a group of students what impressions their Christian background had given them about prayer. One of the recurrent themes was that we need to be a bit careful how we talk to God. You don’t complain to God, question God,…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - How to Recycle Your Killer Instinct
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - How to Recycle Your Killer Instinct
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Recycle Your Killer Instinct 1 Samuel 17: 1- 54 It was the Oscars last weekend (I went to a great jazz concert two blocks away, though I was nearly late because of the road closures in Hollywood), and against the odds, The Hurt Locker beat Avatar (which grossed fifty times…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - How to Say a Lot in a Few Words
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - How to Say a Lot in a Few Words
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Say a Lot in a Few Words Psalm 117 & 118 I joined the faculty of my seminary in England at the time when it moved to a new campus in a different city, so the beginning of my first year was a big moment for the seminary, not just for me. As I walked onto the campus on that …
Exodus and Leviticus - Making Reparation
Exodus and Leviticus - Making Reparation
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Making Reparation LEVITICUS 5: 1- 6: 7 When my wife and I knew we were in love and wanted to get married, my wife’s parents opposed the match for various reasons. I was a mere would-be pastor with no career prospects to compare with Ann’s as a physician. I was too informal and no…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - No, But...
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - No, But...
by SPCK - John Goldingay
No, But… Deuteronomy 1:46- 3: 29 I noted at the beginning of this commentary that my wife, Ann, died just before I started writing it. She had multiple sclerosis for forty-three years. The Sunday after her death, the set Scripture readings included Paul’s account in 2 Corinthians…
Isaiah for Everyone - On Mixed Motives
Isaiah for Everyone - On Mixed Motives
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Mixed Motives Next week my wife and are to speak at a retreat for students aimed at helping people maintain a connection with God while they’re studying theology. I’m looking forward to this event because we have the experience of going through seminary and watching generation…
Psalms for Everyone - Passion Means Persecution
Psalms for Everyone - Passion Means Persecution
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Passion Means Persecution Psalm 68: 1-18 I dreamed last night that I was being taken to court for preaching. The question “If you were prosecuted for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” is a cliché, but it’s a clever and thought-provoking one. When …
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - The Man Who Has Learned How To Be A Prophet
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - The Man Who Has Learned How To Be A Prophet
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Man Who Has Learned How to Be a Prophet 2 Samuel 12: 1- 15a A pastor once came to talk to me because he had had an affair. He had actually “got away with it.” He thinks his wife never realized, but he knew he had behaved in a way that was both wrong and stupid, and he knew he…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Dance and Slaughter
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Dance and Slaughter
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Dance and Slaughter Psalm 148-149 As a teenager, I did not learn to dance or to shoot a gun for different reasons. I didn’t learn to dance because my church regarded dancing as “worldly”; it wasn’t appropriate to people who were really committed to God. I didn’t learn to shoot be…
The Womens' Bible Commentary - Success Dependent on Building the Temple
The Womens' Bible Commentary - Success Dependent on Building the Temple
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Success Dependent on Building the Temple The all-male tone of Haggai is set by the book’s opening verse, which names six men: the Persian king, two Judean leaders, their fathers, and the prophet…
The Womens' Bible Commentary - The Messenger, Justice, and the Father’s Special Possession
The Womens' Bible Commentary - The Messenger, Justice, and the Father’s Special Possession
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
The Messenger, Justice, and the Father’s Special Possession The three dialogues of 2:17–4:3 begin with an accusation: “You have wearied YHWH with your words.” The image of a weary Deity captures the emotional escalation that occurs in these passages…
Isaiah for everyone - (Un)spiritual Practices
Isaiah for everyone - (Un)spiritual Practices
by SPCK - John Goldingay
(Un)spiritual Practices I was talking with a friend about the way Christians in our culture have got interested in “spiritual practices” such as meditation, silence, and fasting. This development is taking place in a context where Christians don’t have as much sense of God as the…
Jeremiah for everyone - Compassion Has the Last Word
Jeremiah for everyone - Compassion Has the Last Word
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Compassion Has the Last Word A variant on whether you see the glass as half full or half empty is whether you look to the future with hope or anxiety. I’m a mildly anxious person myself—I don’t worry much about particular threats or problems, but I’m susceptible to a vague unease…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Drink Is a Brawler
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Drink Is a Brawler
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Drink Is a Brawler A friend who is a recovering alcoholic sometimes comments with dark humour on the process whereby drinking ruins people’s lives. It all but ruined his life, and it has ruined the lives of people he knows…
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Faithful Are the Wounds of a Friend
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs for Everyone - Faithful Are the Wounds of a Friend
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Faithful Are the Wounds of a Friend Austin Farrer, the warden (that is, president) of my undergraduate college, was one of the great preachers of the day, though more for the wisdom and insight of his content than for the singsong style of his delivery…
Jeremiah for everyone - On Facing Reality
Jeremiah for everyone - On Facing Reality
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Facing Reality We were doing our monthly stint serving dinner at a homeless shelter last night, and I got to talk to one of the residents. She’d had a successful and lucrative career in the movie business and lived in a house in Malibu…
Jeremiah for everyone - Bad News or Good News?