Understanding the “World in Front of the Text”: Bridging Biblical Passages and Personal Context

biblical exegesis world in front of the text

This post is part of a series on illuminating Scripture through personal study that follows biblical exegesis methods. Read the Introduction article: Illuminating the Scriptures: A Comprehensive Guide to Biblical Exegesis. After laying the foundation through meticulous annotation of your chosen biblical passage, it’s time to transition toward understanding the “World in Front of the…

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The Bible as an Instructive Text

bible

Read or listen to the Blogcast Many modern-day readers of the Bible tend to look for a system of rules. I suppose this is because we are raised to look for guideposts and follow the rules to stay in line. It starts in the home with chore charts and rules about bedtime and brushing our…

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Why is Psalm 82 Considered a Difficult Text?

difficult Hebrew Bible texts

I started working on Psalm 82 more than a decade ago to unpack the relationship between the Divine Council and Earthly justice-seeking councils, like the Council of Elders in the Bible. I quickly discovered that Psalm 82 was a difficult text to unpack, and many scholars disagreed about its origin, its place in the Psalter,…

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Star Trek and Religion

star trek

It’s just scratching the surface, but I’ve brought together a few of my favorite Star Trek episodes that deal with religion and portrayals of God. Sci-fi is a fantastic venue for exploring how people interact with religious ideas and concepts. Gene Roddenberry masterfully encouraged exploring the human condition in Star Trek. Star Trek: The Next…

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The Poetic Nature of the Psalter Teaches Us

psalms as song

Genre influences how we read and seek to understand a written word. We respond to something written with implicit bias that helps us make informed judgments about what we read and how we should think about the message of a thing. For example, a general news article presents serious content by describing facts or details…

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Epiphany in the New Year

Happy New Year Scholarly Wanderlust

I sit in my kitchen, drinking a double espresso, and thinking about the challenges of transition last year. It’s dark outside as I write this in the week of Epiphany. The wise men have made it to the manger, and people worldwide are taking down holiday decorations. It seems like we are always in a…

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A Guided Tour of Ethics in the Old Testament

John Goldingay Old Testament Ethics

This blog post is condensed and reworked from a presentation I made at Society for Biblical Literature, 2022, in Denver, CO (#SBLAAR22) for the Biblical Ethics Section: Panel Review of John Goldingay’s “Old Testament Ethics: A Guided Tour.” John Goldingay is one of the most prolific and influential Old Testament scholars. He has written an…

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A Religion in Pop Culture Playlist

Religion Music

This weekend, I am giving a presentation about teaching film and religion based on a course I designed and taught approximately one year ago. Even if I knew it before teaching this course, the experience solidified that the public work of theology is being done in open forums through creative media outlets. I mean, I…

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Thinking on Meditation

lectio divina

Psalm 1 implores its reader to meditate day and night on God’s instructions (Torah). The word ‘meditate’ is often associated with Eastern religions, with fewer ties to Western Christianity. However, the Bible brings the concept to the psalms. Psalm one encourages readers to meditate as a prologue in the 150-chapter Psalter. Even though meditation is…

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