Praying With My Legs

Here is a clip from a forthcoming documentary about Abraham Joshua Heschel: Praying With My Legs.

See also:

http://www.prayingwithmylegs.com./home.htm

and

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week1120/feature.html

Abraham Joshua Heschel

Refusing to Lead - Peter Rollins

Kingdom Citizens

"...Latin American theologian & author Rene Padilla discusses our Christian citizenship and God's sovereignty."

http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/index.php?ct=store.details&pid=V00313

Reduce or Wrestle - Peter Rollins

A Prayer From Jonah

This displeased Jonah terribly and he became very angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD and said, "Oh, LORD, this is just what I thought would happen when I was in my own country. This is what I tried to prevent by attempting to escape to Tarshish!– because I knew that you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and one who relents concerning threatened judgment. 3 So now, LORD, kill me instead, because I would rather die than live!"



Jonah 4.1-3 (NET)

The Top 100 Theology Blogs

Here are the top 100 theology blogs according to christiancolleges.com:

http://www.christiancolleges.com/blog/2009/top-100-theology-blogs/

A Prayer for Translation

He whom I bow to only knows to whom I bow
When I attempt the ineffable Name, murmuring Thou,
And dream of Pheidian fancies and embrace in heart
Symbols (I know) which cannot be the thing thou art.
Thus, always taken at their word, all prayers blaspheme
Worshipping with frail images a folk-lore dream,
And all men in their praying, self-deceived, address
The coinage of their own unquiet thoughts, unless
Thou in magnetic mercy to Thyself divert
Our arrows, aimed unskillfully, beyond desert;
And all men are idolaters, crying unheard
To a deaf idol, if thou take them at their word.

Take not, oh Lord, our literal sense. Lord in thy great,
Unbroken speech our limping metaphor translate.

C.S. Lewis

Oxford Book of Prayer
Pg. 70

Letter From Birmingham City Jail

As considerable attention is focused on the life and times of Martin Luther King Jr. today it is fitting to consider one of his ideological and literary contributions; namely, his "Letter from Birmingham City Jail." Although I have yet to read all of King's archived writings, this is the most striking I have come across to date. The original letter was revised and published again. I have included a link to one edition of the letter for those who have not yet read it.

There are several elements of these words that have resonated with me as I reflect upon them. I am continually struck by the adeptness and familiarity of King with scripture. I am not surprised that he knew scripture, he was after all a minister, rather I am in awe of his ability to relate the stories of the past to his own social locale. Not only does he relate the past with the present, but he used them in a prophetic manner. He criticized to energize (to borrow some language from Walter Brueggemann's Prophetic Imagination). The use of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from Daniel as an illustration of civil disobedience is a fascinating example of his ingenuity. Biblical knowledge aside, his philosophical, theological, and historical acumen are also elegantly displayed in this letter.

Finally, the rhetoric he commanded shines through as well. He turned the accusations of extremism into a compliment and a motivational rallying cry for perseverance. Indeed, he called not for an extremism of hate, but rather, creative extremism of love. As a national holiday winds down and a nation gears up for a presidential inauguration hopefully anticipating change; I wonder how many will remember that one of the greatest catalysts for change in the 20th century in America was not a politician, but a pastor?

http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/frequentdocs/birmingham.pdf

Girl in the War

Lyrics | Josh Ritter lyrics - Girl In The War lyrics

'Til Kingdom Come

Lyrics | Coldplay lyrics - Till Kingdom Come lyrics

SBL Annual Meeting - Boston 2008

The Boston Three Party

After a few hours on planes and in airports, hundreds of dollars, a taxi ride and a some quality time on the "T," we arrived at the Hynes Convention Center in downtown Boston, MA, for the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). Efficiency and frugality are keys to making such a trip possible. While at the conference I had the opportunity to take in portions the following sessions: Theological Hermeneutics of Christian Scripture: Learning Theological Interpretation from Premodern Exegetes; Future of the Past: Biblical Studies and Cognate Studies for the Twenty-First Century: What Biblical Scholars Should Know about Judas Iscariot; Ethics and Biblical Interpretation Consultation: The Bible, Ethics, and the Environment; Hebrews Group: Reading Hebrews in its Greco-Roman Context; Use of Cognitive Linguistics in Biblical Interpretation Consultation: Embodied Foundations of Biblical Metaphor. The conference was also a time to catch up with old friends and make some new aquantainces; both from the scholarly world and fellow students. Another aspect of the conference was the collection of book vendors. I have listed a few of my top picks below.

New Books to Consider:

The Child in the Bible. Eds. Marcia J. Bunge, Terence E. Fretheim, and Beverly Roberts Gaventa (Eerdmans 2008).

Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible. Ellen Davis. (Cambridge University Press 2008).

Body, Soul, and Human Life: The Nature of Humanity in the Bible. Joel B. Green (BakerAcademic 2008).

Introducing Theological Interpretation of Scripture: Recovering a Christian Practice. Daniel J. Treier. (BakerAcademic 2008)

Psalms, vol. 3.: Psalms 90-150. John Goldingay. (BakerAcademic 2008)