The Bible as Literature

Latest Episodes:

The Pasture of Your Holiness Jan 31, 2023

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This week, Fr. Paul highlights Hebrew terminology in Moses’ Song of Victory that underscores the centrality of shepherdism in Scripture. (Episode 259)

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God's New Deal Jan 26, 2023

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In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul explains that God’s people are held up as an example of sin, not so that sin is excused or justified, but as a cautionary tale, codified in the story of Scripture, an example to all peoples of how not to behave. The parallel teaching, also found in St. Paul’s exegesis of the Old Testament, is the non-example of Abraham’s trust in God’s commandment. Not in his righteous deeds, ideas, or words about God--Paul points instead specifically to his trust in God’s directive, as the Apostle says, his faith.

Abraham trusted, and it was added to him as righteousness. Likewise, Simeon trusted the command of his master and remained faithful to the end, according to the Word of the Lord. By imitating the obedience of Abraham, Simeon was shown to be a true child of the same father, through whom the Torah, not Israel, was lifted up as a light to enlighten the Gentiles. Luke explains that this Light is the true glory of Israel. Much to Mary’s sorrow, it looks nothing like human glory and comes at a high cost.

Richard and Fr. Marc discuss Luke 2: 27-32. (Episode 466)

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One Text and the Beginning of Wisdom Jan 24, 2023

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This week, Fr. Paul notes that the commonly used expression “the original text” is misleading since there is only one text, which, in fact, is the original. (Episode 258)

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Stand Your Ground Jan 19, 2023

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Scripture is clever. When Simeon stands in the temple waiting, he does so at the pleasure of his master. He has no agency, control, or personal expectations, yet he has a duty. As his very name suggests, he is to hear and obey the words of God until his death, trusting that God will fulfill his promise to achieve salvation, carrying those words in victory over the nations. He has no right to insist on an outcome and, at the same time, no right to lose hope. So what was Simeon’s job? What is a man with no agency supposed to do?

The Prophet David said: “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forever.” (Psalm 125)

Moses said to the people: “Do not be afraid! Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today, you will never see again, forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.” (Exodus 14:13-14)

Stand firm. Stand your ground. Hear and obey. Trust in the words of Scripture. Stay the course--each person in that state in which he was called.

It’s not that a person of duty does not have agency. On the contrary, such a person transfers agency to their allegiance. They still have work to do. The literary metaphor of Simeon standing firm at his post reflects such work, which defers all agency to the commandments of God. Standing firm in anticipation of a great war with no hope of victory and trusting in God for salvation to the point of death is hardly standing still. On the contrary, it’s frightening, challenging, and--as the story goes--honorable and breathtaking.

Richard and Fr. Marc discuss Luke 2:27-32. (Episode 465)

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The Hand of God Jan 17, 2023

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This Week, Fr. Paul notes the importance of the hiphil and how English translations of Exodus fall short in rendering its functional meaning. (Episode 257)

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Simon or Simeon Jan 12, 2023

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Universities, schools, and centers of faith are giving up on knowledge and selling out. What happened this past week at Hamline University indicates a trend in which an agenda other than the mission to impart knowledge controls what is permissible in the classroom.

Knowledge is not a popularity contest. A teacher does not share information to offend or pacify feelings. A teacher imparts whatever they learn; they share whatever they discover and pass it on--be it historical, natural, or, if it concerns faith, Scriptural. Whatever they have uncovered remains, no matter what the students say, feel, or believe. That is why it does not matter when a disciple turns away from instruction. Like a 14th-century painting, the knowledge in question was there before them and will remain long after they return to the dust from which they were taken.
The Gentiles who seek to grow their universities have betrayed a sacred trust. In the Book of Acts, the second half of the Lukan diptych, the evangelist does not allow us to speak about growing the church. Instead, he forces us to surrender to St. Paul's gospel, hoping, against hope, that the word of the Lord, not the community, will grow and prevail mightily. (Acts 19:20) So long as our universities need students--or our churches need parishioners--there is no hope for growth in the knowledge of God, let alone basic instruction in art history.

This week's episode is dedicated to the few and the proud--the teachers committed to teaching in the service of knowledge, not personal gain. Beginning with Professor Prater, you know who you are. May God lift you up and embolden you for the sake of the needy. Remember the words of the Lord's prophet. It's not you they hate.

Richard and Fr. Marc discuss Luke 2:25-26. (Episode 464)

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A Sign is Not a Miracle Jan 10, 2023

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This week, Fr. Paul explains that a sign in the Bible is distinct from a miracle and is used to assign a function or meaning to something within the story. (Episode 256)

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Opener of the Womb Jan 05, 2023

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Lies are comfortable. We lie to soothe feelings. To make agendas appealing, to sell things. We find lies so attractive that we bend our terminology to accommodate them. Instead of analyzing information, we discuss “narratives.” Instead of taking responsibility for our actions and their outcomes, we rush to share our stories and our vision. “The visionary,” Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “lies to himself, the liar only to others.” How is it then that we, a society made-up of personal narratives and visionary thinkers, are surprised when the newest politician lies about almost everything?

The crisis is not moral. It begins with a false premise accepted long ago that a person can extract meaning from a text. We adopt the fantasy that we understand a text or any complex data set without knowing the actual content of the text. What we then call meaning is almost always the lie we tell ourselves to fill in the blank spaces left over by the work we’ve not done--this is the actual definition of the infamous personal narrative.

To understand Luke’s meaning, we must force ourselves to strip away the lies of translation, cultural bias, and centuries of third-party narratives and visions imposed on the biblical text to finally hear the meaning grammatically embedded in the connective tissue of Luke itself.

So much ado about the word firstborn in the many theologies of English speakers, and it doesn’t even appear in Luke 2:23.

Richard and Fr. Marc discuss Luke 2:22-24. (Episode 463)

The following music was used for this media project:
Music: Inspiring Teaser by Rafael Krux
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/5672-inspiring-teaser
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

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Consecrate to Me Jan 03, 2023

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This week Fr. Paul begins his discussion of Exodus 13. (Episode 255)

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Your Thirst Dec 29, 2022

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Suppose you ask an American what's wrong with the culture and have enough patience to wade through people's anger and cheap sound bites. You'll find surprising agreement across all ideological boundaries: something is broken. Even those hell-bent on defending American exceptionalism will eventually contradict themselves and blame someone for why things are not as great as they should be. People feel a sense of loss.

Whatever they believe, no matter how they answer, underneath it all is a deep sadness (often masked by anger) that few can put their finger on. Life is not our property. It does not belong to us. Yet we persist in behaving otherwise. The belief that we are its proprietors controls our treatment of each other and the natural world. It thrusts the insanity upon us that everything exists for us. This belief is empirically insane, yet we accept it and then act confused as the damage around us accelerates.

This sin of modern man, who demands obedience from life, was codified in 1996 in the marketing slogan, "obey your thirst." It's unclear whether the saying influenced the culture or expressed what we had already become. In my experience as a priest, when modern Christians talk about obedience, they unwittingly reference this Coca-Cola slogan, not Scripture. "Humbly," they obey their thirst, channeling water away from the oasis to the city, fulfilling their selfish purpose. In God's eyes, on this point, the English language is broken. It is the human being, not the so-called wilderness, that is "wild." It is the will of the human being that must submit to life, not the other way around.

From the beginning of Luke, the calling of Jesus is beyond the reach of what our Lord might want from life, what may motivate him (none of which is a topic in Scripture) or what he might choose to do, given a chance. On the contrary, the calling of Jesus is expressed as it is for all human beings, in the assignment of his name, over which he has no control and to which, like Zacharias, he is forced to submit.

Richard and Fr. Marc discuss Luke 2:21
Episode 462; Luke 2:21

The following music was used for this media project:
Music: Desert Night by Sascha Ende
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/480-desert-night
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

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