Psalm 104 has a distinct message about God’s creation that has stuck with me strongly since I first studied the passage in graduate school. I have previously posted links to my prior study of the text and structure of this Psalm, done more than 25 years ago. I’m starting from that point now. When we…
I have liked John McCain for a long time, and now he has taken a stand on torture and interrogation. Chip Read on MSNBC’s first read comments on this as a matter of conscience. I’m amazed, despite everything that has already happend in the war on terror, that this is entirely an issue. I’m deeply…
I’m planning to do some posting on translating and transforming Hebrew poetry over the next few weeks, so I want to start with a couple of links to my existing work on Psalm 104. I did a considerable study of the structure of this Psalm in graduate school. I’m not in a position to repeat…
I have not been very excited about the vatican over the last few years, and I was not overjoyed when the current pope was elected, but in general since I’m not a catholic, it’s not something I get very excited about. But the current round of protests about the Pope’s quotation of a medieval text…
A few days ago Wayne Leman blogged about translating Hebrew poetry, and referred to an article by Philip C. Stine Biblical Poetry and Translation. The article is really excellent, and nothing I’m about to say here is intended to criticize that article as such. I’ve been very interested in translation of Hebrew poetry, but I…
Today while doing grocery shopping, I saw a T-Shirt with the slogan: My faith and my freedom are one. Underneath was the verse: Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD (Psalm 33:12). I don’t know who provides such a shirt, but that slogan troubles me deeply. I think it reflects the problem that…
Shane Raynor has returned to blogging after a summer hiatus. The Wesley Blog is back, but at the same time he announces the end of his experiment with the Wesley Daily. I’ll miss the Wesley Daily, because often Shane’s picks of a post for the day gave me good material to blog about. However, the…
I really appreciate the post Uniting Against the Common Enemy. As I said in an earlier post, I don’t expect others to back off about their positions on various issues. But we also don’t need to have those additional disagreements prevent us from cooperating on issues about which we do agree. I particularly like the…
Ed Brayton calls attention to a Texas Freedom Network report on the teaching of the Bible in public schools. Not surprisingly, the report is not good. Bible teaching is constitutional under certain specific circumstances, largely amounting to requiring that it be taught as an academic subject in a non-sectarian way. The recommendations by the Texas…
The other day I was reading an article on the practice of prophetic ministry–I’m not going to say where; it was in print and not on the web–in which the author claimed that a prophet does not have to get it right. In fact, he said, a person with the gift of prophecy may get…