Category: Biblical Studies

(here is where annotated bib info would go)

Vice-Presidential Address to the North American Academy of Liturgy, January 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia, focused on applying a quote about tradition attributed to Gustav Mahler to the practice of preaching: “Tradition is not the worship of ashes but the preservation of fire.”

This essay argues that when reading Proverbs 7-9 as a single instruction within Proverbs 1-9, the description of Wisdom’s home in Proverbs 9:1-6 is the chiasmic center of the instruction. This structural observation joins thematic observations by scholars such as William P. Brown and Silvia Schroer to emphasize Wisdom’s home as the cosmos.

Isaiah 49:14-23 and 54:1-3 evoke an annunciation type-scene, more commonly found in narrative portions of the Hebrew Bible. In doing so, personified Zion is placed in continuity with women of Israel’s past, thus “remembering the former things.” At the same time, she is recreated so substantially that she forgets those former things.

Lectionary reflections on John 1 and a psalm.

Suggests that arguments within biblical-heritage religions are often between those whose greatest fear is fall into chaos and those whose greatest fear is oppression from tyrannical forces. The Bible reflects corresponding arguments within ancient Israel and the nascent church. The use of biblical texts often functions to fuel those arguments rather than to resolve them.