As I keep writing at this and other weblogs, “fear of God” is an unfortunate expression. TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures captures the meaning:
Yours is the power to forgive
so that you may be held in awe.
We all have learned childhood lessons we may question or renounce later in life. The more I mature in faith, the more I question childhood assumptions regarding theology. I have not, for a long time, regarded entrance to Heaven as depending upon passing a divine canonical examination. If it did, theological orthodoxy would constitute a saving work, and salvation would not be by grace. The most recent development in my thinking regarding Hell is approaching the concept as something nearer to Purgatory–a temporary reality and state of being. The Harrowing of Hell (1 Peter 4:6) influences me, as it has for years. The reasoning is: If Jesus did this once, he can do it again.
A more recent influence is Eastern Orthodox scholar David Bentley Hart, the author of Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies (2009), the translator of a “ruthlessly literal” translation of the New Testament (2017), the author of That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation (2019), and the author of Tradition and Apocalypse: An Essay on the Future of Christian Belief (2022). My copy That All Shall Be Saved contains marginalia in which I critique arguments and pieces thereof. One of Hart’s arguments proceeds from creation ex nihilo, a proposition I reject in favor of the Jewish doctrine of the creation of order from chaos (Genesis 1). So, that particular argument does not hold water with me. If x, then y. If x is a faulty proposition, that particular argument collapses upon itself. Nevertheless, Hart provides much food for thought, makes many cogent points, and offers a fine lesson in the history of theology, especially from the first five centuries of Christianity.
Hellfire-and-damnation preachers and teachers depict God as one who chomps at the bit to condemn people for their sins. Fear–not awe, but fear–is a powerful force for controlling behavior and changing it. Yet fear is not the approach in Psalm 130. No, hesed–steadfast love–is the approach in Psalm 130. And the focus in Psalm 130 is simultaneously individual and collective.
So is the focus in Psalm 131. In Psalm 131, God is like a mother and the psalmist is like an infant. That is a beautiful and potent image.
Divine judgment and mercy exist in balance. A good parent loves a child. Love includes discipline when necessary. Yet discipline is not abuse. God, as some of the faithful describe the deity, is an abusive and tyrannical figure. Any “orthodoxy” which requires thinking of God in those terms is a heresy. On the other end of the spectrum, any theology which gives short shrift to the judgment side of divine judgment and mercy is heretical, too. I do not pretend to know what the balance of divine judgment and mercy is, but my theology favors mercy more often than judgment.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
FEBRUARY 18, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS COLMAN OF LINDISFARNE, AGILBERT, AND WILFRID, BISHOPS
THE FEAST OF SAINTS BARBASYMAS, SADOTH OF SELEUCIA, AND THEIR COMPANIONS, MARTYRS, 342
THE FEAST OF EDWARD SHIPPEN BARNES, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN ORGANIST, COMPOSER, AND WRITER
THE FEAST OF BLESSED GUIDO DI PIETRO, A.K.A. FRA ANGELICO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND ARTIST
THE FEAST OF JAMES DRUMMOND BURNS, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF JOHANNES DANIEL FALK, GERMAN POET, HYMN WRITER, AND SOCIAL WORKER
Psalm 26 bears striking similarities to Psalms 1 and 25. The placement of this tex as Psalm 26 makes sense as a follow-up to Psalm 25. However, Psalm 26 is a purely individual lament.
The psalmist is perplexed. He had assumed, as Job’s alleged friends did, that God rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. Yet the psalmist’s situation belies or seems to belie that theological position. Whether he requests a divine judgment or divine vindication depends on the interpreter/translator. Mitchell J. Dahood asserts that no vindication was necessary, for the psalmist, assured of his integrity, sought divine recognition of it. Robert Alter follows Dahood’s position. Yet TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures renders the germane verb as “vindicate,” as in, to grant the reward for righteousness.
Despite the Reformed insistence that human beings are damnable creatures by our corrupted nature, the Book of Psalms holds a higher opinion of people. We are a little less than divine–or as a familiar translation of Psalm 8 says,
a little lower than the angels.
This position is consistent with the image of God (Genesis 1:27). So, the Jewish and Roman Catholic assertions of human merit hold theological water.
We mere mortals still know far less than God does. Our “received wisdom” and inherited theological orthodoxy do not always match our circumstances. Will reality override a theory, or will we double-down in ideology? That is a matter we have the power decide for ourselves.
I write this post in politically perilous times. A vocal element of the body politic in the United States of America–my homeland–is openly authoritarian and fascistic in its inclination. Some elected members of the United States Congress support Russia in its war against the people of Ukraine and with that the insurrection of January 6, 2021, had succeeded. They say so openly. Antisemitism is more commonplace and edging back into the political mainstream. So is its equally vile cousin, Christian Nationalism, laced with racism.
Words matter in the Bible. Mythology tells us that God spoke the created order into existence (Genesis 1). The Law of Moses condemns bearing false witness. The penalty for perjury in the Law of Moses is to suffer the same fate one would have had the innocent person suffer. Psalm 12 condemns those with slippery and slick language–those with pernicious speech and flattering words. The imagery of cutting off lips and cutting off tongues is vivid in Psalm 12. This may disturb a reader, but, in context, those lips and tongues form words that serve as a weapon or an army for the wicked.
Poetry is poetry, of course. I oppose maiming anyone, especially in the name of God. Neither does this text favor maiming any person. Psalm 12 uses shocking language to attract attention. Shocking and sometimes inexact language is a rhetorical tool commonplace in the prophetic books and the Book of Psalms.
Words matter. Just as God, mythologically, spoke creation into existence, our words–in oral and written forms–help to shape our circumstances and those of others. This is why libel and slander are offenses that lead to court cases. This is why language that provokes violence falls outside the bounds of constitutional protection. This why if I were to engage in speech that led to someone’s needless injury or death, I would be criminally liable. I am a nice person who tries to keep faith with objective reality and live peaceably with others individuals in community, fortunately.
We ought to interpret Psalm 12 in the context of mutuality, a virtue hardwired into the Old and New Testaments. We human beings, who depend entirely upon God, depend upon each other, too. We are interdependent. We have responsibilities to and for each other. So, slick, slippery, and pernicious speech endangers the common good. Those who engage in such speech may be self-serving, but they also endanger themselves. The common good is their good, also.
May your words, O reader, build up the common good. And may you oppose those whose words endanger the common good. The love of God and your neighbors compels such attitudes and actions.
Psalms, 8, 19, and 104 share the theme of God in creation. God, who provides for the creatures, has made human beings little lower than the elohim, literally. And divine glory permeates the created order. Human beings have received the responsibility of exercising stewardship of nature.
We have failed, obviously. We have mistaken stewardship for ownership and the license for pollution and exploitation, usually in the name of short-term profits.
God delights in nature. Psalm 104 speaks of
Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
We should also delight in nature.
The created order depends entirely on God. Human beings, as part of the created order, depend entirely upon God. Many of us labor under the delusion of rugged independence, though. Biblically, this is the essence of wickedness. When we imagine that we must and can rely on ourselves, the ends may seem to justify the means.
Elohim is an interesting word. It can mean “God” or “gods.” Elohim is plural. Yet, in Hebrew, it usually functions as singular. Elohim is a linguistic fossil of Hebrew polytheism. And, in Psalm 8, many translators render elohim as “the angels.” TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures translates elohim as “divine” in Psalm 8. Mitchell J. Dahood’s translation is literal; people are
a little lower than the gods.
When we recall Genesis 1, we may remember that people bear the image of God. Tselem is literally “idol,” not “image.” In other words, we meet God in human beings. We may also remember that God had pronounced human beings “very good” and other creations “good.” So, we are little less than divine.
The myth of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) condemns the collective arrogance that results from forgetting our place–higher than other animals and lower that God. We may vainly imagine ourselves to be all that and a bag of potato chips. Yet God, poetically, still has to come down and squint to see the projects of which we are so proud. Hubris goes before the fall. And, historically, the myth is a way of dividing the Mesopotamian empires that had menaced Israel and Judah.
When we accept that we all stand together before God, we can better treasure nature and each other. May we do so. May we transform our planet and our societies for the better.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 15, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE NINETEENTH DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR A
THE FEAST OF THOMAS BENSON POLLOCK, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF FRED D. GEALY, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER, MISSIONARY, MUSICIAN, AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF HENRY FOTHERGILL CHORLEY, ENGLISH NOVELIST, PLAYWRIGHT, AND LITERARY AND MUSIC CRITIC
THE FEAST OF JOHN HORDEN, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF MOOSENEE
THE FEAST OF RALPH WARDLAW, SCOTTISH CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, AND LITURGIST
THE FEAST OF ROBERT MCDONALD, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND MISSIONARY
According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
One may use the word “mystery” in at least two ways. One may think of a situation in which gathering more information will eliminate confusion and enable arriving at a firm answer. The Holy Trinity is a mystery, but not in that way. Even if we mere mortals had all the information about the nature of God, we could not understand it. We can barely grasp what we do know, and what we know raises more questions than it resolves. So be it. The second meaning of “mystery” is an ancient definition: One can know something only by living into it. One can know God by faith, for example.
The Feast of the Holy Trinity is the only Christian feast of a doctrine. It is more than that, though. Lutheran minister and liturgist Philip H. Pfatteicher recommends thinking of Trinity Sunday as:
…the celebration of the richness of the being of God and the occasion of a thankful review of the now completed mystery of salvation, which is the work of the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit.
—Commentary on theLutheran Book of Worship: Lutheran Liturgy in Its Ecumenical Context (1990), 301
A doctrine–especially the Holy Trinity–can seem abstract. Some people (including moi) like abstractions. However, abstractions leave others cold and spiritually unmoved. Salvation is not abstract, however; it is tangible. And how it works is a mystery in at least the second meaning of the word.
Happy Trinity Sunday!
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 27, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF GEORGE WASHINGTON DOANE, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF NEW JERSEY; AND HIS SON, WILLIAM CROSWELL DOANE, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF ALBANY; HYMN WRITERS
THE FEAST OF SAINTS ANTONY AND THEODOSIUS OF KIEV, FOUNDERS OF RUSSIAN ORTHODOX MONASTICISM; SAINT BARLAAM OF KIEV, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ABBOT; AND SAINT STEPHEN OF KIEV, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ABBOT AND BISHOP
THE FEAST OF CHRISTINA ROSSETTI, POET AND RELIGIOUS WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINTS REMACLUS OF MAASTRICHT, THEODORE OF MAASTRICHT, LAMBERT OF MAASTRICHT, HUBERT OF MAASTRICHT AND LIEGE, AND FLORIBERT OF LIEGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT LANDRADA OF MUNSTERBILSEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS; AND SAINTS OTGER OF UTRECHT, PLECHELM OF GUELDERLAND, AND WIRO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES
THE FEAST OF SAINT ZITA OF TUSCANY, WORKER OF CHARITY
The events of Luke 8:22-56 occur back-to-back in that Gospel’s chronology. The three stories demonstrate Jesus’s power over nature, demons, illness, and death.
In ancient Near Eastern mythology, the deep represented chaos. In Jewish theology, God created order from chaos in Genesis 1. In Revelation 21:1, the heaven and the new earth had no sea.
However one interprets Luke 8:22-25, know, O reader, that St. Luke wanted people to know that Jesus was the master over storms and that the Twelve did not yet understand who Jesus really was. The final detail, read in the context of Luke 8:19-21, does not flatter them.
Yet the Gerasene “demoniac” understood who Jesus really was.
I do not pretend to know what, in modern diagnostic categories, afflicted that Gerasene “demoniac.” As I keep writing ad nauseum in this series, I, being educated in modern science, understand that certain conditions have organic, not demonic, causes. In this respect, I know more than people did at the time of Jesus. And I, having been in an ill-fated relationship with a mentally-ill woman for a about a decade, understand why those not educated in science mistook mental illness as evidence of possession. These factors complicate my interpretation of Luke 8:26-39. So be it.
I choose to focus on verses 38 and 39.
The man, healed of whatever had afflicted him, was grateful. He begged to follow Jesus, who told him to return home and witness to what God had done. Jesus’s instructions to would-be followers varied according to circumstances. He told some to follow, others to go home, and one to divest himself of all wealth then to follow. Yet Jesus had some wealthy followers whom he did not instruct to divest themselves of wealth. And, oddly, in Luke 8:56, Jesus ordered the parents to keep an impossible secret.
What does Jesus tell you, O reader, to do?
Luke 8:40-56 weaves stories of two females–one a dead, young woman and the other a desperate woman with a hemorrhage. The stories tell us of these figures, rendered ritually impure–one via corpse impurity and the other via genital discharge. The corpse impurity also applied to everyone under Jairus’s roof. We read of the holiness of Jesus destroying the causes of ritual impurity in the germane people. We also read of Jesus restoring two females to their families and communities.
Who was Jesus?
That question continues as we keep reading the Gospel of Luke.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 31, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE SEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
NEW YEAR’S EVE
THE FEAST OF SAINT GIUSEPPINA NICOLI, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN AND MINISTER TO THE POOR
THE FEAST OF HENRY IRVING LOUTTIT, JR., EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF GEORGIA
THE FEAST OF ROSSITER WORTHINGTON RAYMOND, U.S. NOVELIST, POET, HYMN WRITER, AND MINING ENGINEER
THE FEAST OF SAINT ZOTICUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, PRIEST AND MARTYR, CIRCA 351
God’s creative destruction finally complete, the fully-realized Kingdom of God may arrive. The language of the Kingdom of God in the New Testament is simultaneously present tense and future tense. The partially-realized Kingdom of God is here and has been here for a long time. Yet much remains to come.
In Revelation 21:1-22:5, finite language speaks of infinite grace and a new world order. Death, grief, pain, chaos, and other causes of suffering are no more. The New Jerusalem is a new, renewed creation. It is paradise restored, after Genesis 3. Mythological language, best suited to describe the fully-realized Kingdom of God.
Presbyterian minister Ernest Lee Stoffel, writing in The Dragon Bound: The Revelation Speaks to Our Time (1981), proposed:
The re-creating power of Christ’s suffering love is time-less. The reign of Christ’s suffering love is time-less. The re-creating power of suffering love can happen “in time” and “beyond time.”
–103
He was, I suppose, channeling C. H. Dodd’s Realized Eschatology–the Kingdom of God does not come; it is. God is time-less. Our perspectives are time-bound, however. Therefore, certain events make the reality of the Kingdom of God more evident than before.
I recognize much of merit in the case Dodd made. Maybe the temporal perspective of this student of the past is too strong for Realized Eschatology to satisfy me fully. Nevertheless, I admit that my point of view is limited.
Stoffel’s case makes much sense. In Genesis 1:1, God began to create. God continues to create. God continues to re-create.
That satisfies me fully.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 20, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF PHILIP SCHAFF AND JOHN WILLIAMSON NEVIN, U.S. GERMAN REFORMED HISTORIANS, THEOLOGIANS, AND LITURGISTS
THE FEAST OF FRIEDRICH FUNCKE, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, COMPOSER, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF JAMES W. C. PENNINGTON, AFRICAN-AMERICAN CONGREGATIONALIST AND PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, EDUCATOR, AND ABOLITIONIONIST
THE FEAST OF JOHN HARRIS BURT, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF OHIO, AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST
THE FEAST OF MARY A. LATHBURY, U.S. METHODIST HYMN WRITER
Rev[elation] is widely popular for the wrong reasons, for a great number of people read it as a guide to how the world will end, assuming that the author was given by Christ detailed knowledge of the future he communicated in coded symbols.
Consider the apocalypse in Daniel 7-12, for example, O reader. The author wrote in the first century B.C.E. He mostly wrote history as prophecy. But when the author started writing about the future (relative to him), he got details wrong. This was par for the course, given the genre.
Apocalyptic literature, written in images and symbols, is politically subversive of tyranny. The genre offers hope during difficult times, encourages the faithful to remain faithful, and contrasts the world order with the divine order. Apocalyptic literature uses the future as away to address the present.
I lay my theological cards on the table at the beginning of this project, O reader.
I am a left-of-center Episcopalian.
I am a student of history.
I am an intellectual.
I know the historical record of failed predictions of Christ’s Second Coming and failed identifications of the Antichrist.
I tell you, O reader, that the rapture is a fiction from the mind of John Nelson Darby (1800-1882).
I know that Darby’s Dispensationalism, popularized further in C. I. Scofield‘s study Bible, the “manual of fundamentalism,” remains a widespread interpretive system.
I affirm that Christ will eventually return, but only once. The rapture requires two Second Comings.
I have no interest in prophecy conferences, but care deeply about loving like Jesus daily.
Apocalyptic literature has much to say about our present. This content remains politically subversive. That is fine. I approve of subverting injustice, tyranny, slavery, economic exploitation, and needless violence. They are antithetical to the Kingdom of God.
Apocalyptic literature is also optimistic. In the darkness, the genre proclaims hope that God and good will triumph in the end. Apocalyptic literature, therefore, stiffens the spines of discouraged, faithful people. Good news of the deliverance of oppressed people doubles as judgment of the oppressors. The genre invites us to ask ourselves:
Whose side am I on?
In summary, apocalyptic literature immediately moves past preaching and gets to meddling.
THE APOCALYPSE OF JOHN AND RESISTANCE TO TYRANNY
Certain passages of the Old and New Testaments, in their contexts, support submission to earthly authority. The Apocalypse of John has none of that. Revelation tells us that the Roman Empire was evil, antithetical to the Kingdom of God. This is the message that made the text treasonous long ago and still inspires many people to resist tyranny. One may read, for example, of Christian opponents of Apartheid (in South Africa) drawing inspiration from the Apocalypse of John, even as the national government prosecuted and persecuted them. Today, in dictatorships, certain Christians are reading Revelation as they emerge in their struggles for justice.
REVELATION IN THE BIBLE AND LECTIONARIES
Revelation is a liturgical hot potato. The major lectionaries include little of it. The Eastern Orthodox lectionary excludes the Apocalypse of John. The Orthodox Study Bible (2008) explains:
While seen as canonical and inspired by God, the Revelation is the only New Testament book not publicly read in the services of the Orthodox Church. This is partly because the book was only gradually accepted as canonical in many parts of Christendom. In addition, in the second and third centuries Revelation was widely twisted and sensationally misinterpreted, and the erroneous teachings brought troublesome confusion to Christians–a trend that continues to this day.
Genesis and Revelation constitute fitting bookends of the Christian Bible. Genesis opens with mythology–the creation of an earthly paradise, followed by the end of that paradise–to be precise (Genesis 1-3). Revelation concludes with a vision of God, having finally defeated evil once and for all, restoring that earthly paradise and establishing the fully-realized Kingdom of God (Revelation 21-22).
THE ORIGIN OF THE APOCALYPSE OF JOHN
Revelation came from 92 to 96 C.E., at the end of the reign of the Emperor Domitian. Emperor-worship and the worship of the goddess Roma (Rome personified) were parts of conventional Roman patriotism and civic life. The Christian refusal to participate in these cults made Christians seem unpatriotic at best and treasonous at worst. Persecution was generally sporadic and regional at the time, but it was a constant threat. “John of Patmos” (whoever he was) wrote to seven churches in commercial cities in western Asia Minor.
The elaborate symbolism–including numerology–in apocalyptic literature prevented the uninitiated–in this case, Roman censors–from understanding the texts.
SYMBOLISM AND MEANING IN REVELATION 1
The only instance in which to interpret any number in the Apocalypse of John literally pertains to the seven churches in western Asia Minor.
Revelation 1 plunges us into the symbolic aspect of apocalyptic literature immediately. Stars (at the end of the chapter) represent angels and lamp-stands represent churches. Earlier in the chapter, Jesus has white hair, indicating holiness. His eyes, like a burning flame, pierce to the heart of all things. Christ’s “feet like burnished bronze” are stable and steadfast. His voice, “like the sound of the ocean,” is the convergence of the truth of God in the Hebrew Bible. Jesus holds the Church–then a vulnerable group of house congregations–in his hand. From Christ’s mouth emerges a two-edged sword (speech). His face shines like the sun. Christ is victorious, resurrected, ascended, and priestly.
The Roman Empire may have seemed to have had all the power and glory. It did not. The Roman Empire had executed Jesus. Yet he had risen; his tomb was empty. The power of the Roman Empire was nothing compared to the power of God in Christ.
That was treasonous, for, according to Roman coinage, the emperor was the “Son of God.”
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 6, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF GEORGE EDWARD LYNCH COTTON, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF CALCUTTA
THE FEAST OF HEINRICH ALBERT, GERMAN LUTHERAN COMPOSER AND POET
THE FEAST OF HERBERT G. MAY, U.S. BIBLICAL SCHOLAR AND TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF JOHN ERNEST BODE, ANGLICAN PRIEST, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM TYNDALE, ENGLISH REFORMER, BIBLE TRANSLATOR, AND MARTYR, 1536; AND MILES COVERDALE, ENGLISH REFORMER, BIBLE TRANSLATOR, AND BISHOP OF EXETER
Harlan Ellison, my favorite curmudgeon, argues against the proposition that each person is entitled to his or her opinion. He said:
No, you are entitled to your informed opinion.
Opinions not rooted in objective reality are unworthy of respect.
The first part of James 3 exists in the context of the second part of James 3. Therefore, the section about controlling the tongue is really about jealousy and infighting, originally. Internal struggles in the Church are as as old as the Church, sadly.
According to mythology, YHWH spoke creation into being. Therefore, whenever one speaks, writes, leaves a message on a social media outlet, or repeats or shares what someone else has said or written, one creates something. I am conscious of the power of my weblogs, which do not attract mass audiences. Nevertheless, I know that some people are reading. I attempt to make a positive contribution. I see that some of my posts have influenced prayers at commencement ceremonies. This makes me feel good.
Words matter. They have power. They can build up or tear down. For good reasons, not all speech has constitutional protection in the United States of America. Unprotected speech includes libel, slander, and incitement to violence. When I read about bullying, I recall James 3. We are all responsible to and for each other as we stand before God. May we take care of each other.
Timeless principles are…timeless, for lack of a better word. We mere mortals always apply them within circumstances; we always have circumstances. Circumstances change and technology develops, but timeless principles remain. In the age of COVID-19, spreading misinformation and damn lies about the virus, vaccines, masks, and horse deworming medicine is deadly. When the definition of objective reality is a controversial matter, public health becomes politicized immediately. And people die needlessly as the pandemic continues longer than necessary and damages economies. Peace is difficult to find.
A grandson of a parishioner at my much died recently. The grandson died of COVID-19, which he contracted from his father, who had refused to get vaccinated.
Misinformation, obliviousness, and damn lies claim lives sometimes. Make your speech count for the good, O reader. And take care of your relatives, friends, and neighbors. By doing so, you will take care of yourself.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF PHILANDER CHASE, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF OHIO, AND OF ILLINOIS; AND PRESIDING BISHOP
THE FEAST OF C. H. DODD, WELSH CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF CHARLOTTE ELLIOTT, JULIA ANNE ELLIOTT, AND EMILY ELLIOTT, ANGLICAN HYMN WRITERS
THE FEAST OF JUSTUS FALCKNER, LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF STEPHEN G. CARY, U.S. QUAKER HUMANITARIAN AND ANTIWAR ACTIVIST
The prophecies against King Jeroboam II (reigned 788-747 B.C.E.; 2 Kings 14:23-29) of Israel, his dynasty (842-747 B.C.E.), and the (northern) Kingdom of Israel were unpopular at Bethel, predictably.
One scholarly hypothesis holds that the original draft of the Book of Amos came into existence after the prophet (who humbly denied being a prophet in 7:14) had to return to the (southern) Kingdom of Judah. If so, the existence of the Book of Amos constitutes an example of irony. In 2021, many people can hear and/or read an expanded, amended version of what Amaziah, the priest at Bethel in the middle-to-late 700s B.C.E., tried to quash.
The first vision of judgment (7:1-3) was that of a swarm of locusts consuming late-sown crops after the royal reaping. (King Jeroboam II had claimed a portion of the earlier harvest for his herds and horses to consume.) God was not in a forgiving mood.
The second vision of judgment (7:4-6) was that of a rain of fire that, having devoured “the great abyss,” consumed these locust-devastated fields. In the germane ancient cosmology, that of the creation myth in Genesis 1:1-2:4a, the Earth was flat, with waters below and a dome above. (Do Creationists think that the planet is like this? Do they belong to the Flat Earth Society?) In this apocalyptic scene, God was really not in a forgiving mood.
The third vision of judgment (7:7-9) was that of a plumb line, or a plummet (depending on translation). One used this tool to determine how far out of line a wall or building had become, if repair was possible, and if demolition was necessary. The verdict on the kingdom of Jeroboam II was that the realm was beyond salvage.
The fourth vision of judgment (8:1-14) was that of a basket of fruit (or figs) from the end of summer. (The Hebrew word for “summer” puns on the Hebrew word for “end.”) God declared doom on the kingdom that had forsaken the covenant. Rife, systemic social injustice, especially of the economic variety, was evidence of this abandonment of the covenant. God was indeed distant from the (northern) Kingdom of Israel. The people had spurned God, anyway.
The language of the fifth vision (9:1-10), the vision of the destruction of the sanctuary, is bleak, evocative, and apocalyptic. The (northern) Kingdom of Israel had, in laymen’s terms, “torn it.” The proverbial gig was up. The fulfillment of this prophecy was simply a matter of time–about a quarter of a century.
Given that commentaries inform me of subsequent editing of the original version of the Book of Amos, I wonder how well some religious figures in the (southern) Kingdom of Judah handled these prophesies as that kingdom went into decline and vassalage, and as the threat of the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire loomed. I also wonder how much of the content in the texts in Amos 7-9 dates to after 722 B.C.E. and before 586 B.C.E.
Anyhow, a timeless lesson applies. Divine judgment and mercy exist in balance. Divine patience is not infinite. Neither is divine judgment.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 23, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE DAY OF PENTECOST, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF SAINT IVO OF CHARTRES, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF BENJAMIN CARR, ANGLO-AMERICAN COMPOSER AND ORGANIST
THE FEAST OF FREDERICK AUGUSTUS BENNETT, FIRST MAORI ANGLICAN BISHOP IN AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND
THE FEAST OF SAINTS JÓZEF KURGAWA AND WINCENTY MATSUZEWSKI, POLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS, 1940
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM OF PERTH, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC BAKER AND MARTYR, 1201
BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
You must be logged in to post a comment.