October 26, 2022
Days 9-10 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days Texts: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7. The reading of Genesis 2-3 is widely disputed, and it is difficult to discern what the best reading is. Is this description of cosmic and human origins literal history (as if we were watching a video), a theological saga, a mytho-historical worldview, […]
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Biblical Texts, Theodrama | Tagged: Adam, Eve, Fall, Garden of Eden, Genesis 2, Genesis 3, Serpent, Wisdom |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
January 31, 2015
Psalm 1, perhaps also Psalm 2, serves as a preface or introduction to the Psalter. It says something important about how we should read, sing, pray, and meditate on Psalms. There is some text-critical evidence (variant readings) that Acts 13:33 calls Psalm 2 the “first Psalm,” and some medieval manuscripts write the first psalm in […]
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Uncategorized | Tagged: Psalm 1, Psalms, Torah, Wisdom |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
August 13, 2013
The opening Psalm functions as a kind of preface or introduction to the whole collection. It orients the worshipper to a particular path and the value of pursuing the life the Psalter envisions. Indeed, it offers us a choice. There is the way of the wicked (sinners, scoffers) and the way of the righteous. There […]
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Biblical Texts | Tagged: Choices, Ethics, Freedom, Psalm 1, Psalms, Psalter, Two Ways, Wisdom |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
October 4, 2011
Whatever the nature of the pause in Job 28, the narrator resumes Job’s voice in Job 29-31. This is Job’s final speech (“the words of Job are ended,” 31:40). It divides into three sections: (1) Job remembers the past (Job 29), (2) Job protests the present, and (3) Job swears out a writ (Job 31). […]
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Biblical Texts | Tagged: Bible-Job, Ethics, Job, Job 29, Job 30, Job 31, Lament, Self-imprecation, Wisdom |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
October 23, 2009
The letter of James, full of practical and proverbial wisdom, appears in the context of a factious struggle between wealthy and impoverished members of James’ faith community. The tension between the rich and the poor pervades the epistle and is one of the central themes that the letter addresses. James encourages the community of faith […]
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Biblical Texts | Tagged: Ambition, Bible-James, Envy, James, James 3:13-18, Knowledge, Prayer, Selfishness, Understanding, Wisdom, Workaholism |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks