Last time we saw how the experience of Exile had a profound and transformational impact on Hebrew religion. While any statement generalizing the beliefs of tens of thousands of people is going to be oversimplified, we might say that the old Judaite elite left a destroyed Jerusalem monolaters of a local god they believed had … Continue reading The God of Judea
One of the most common debates among committed Christians over the centuries has been the relative importance of personal piety versus acts of compassion. It’s played out on a lot of fronts: The action versus contemplation debate in monastic circles, the faith versus works debate of the Reformation era, and in the present attacks today … Continue reading Happy Are Those… : A Reflection on Psalm 112
In the middle centuries of the first millennium BCE, the Hebrew peoples experienced a series of blows that drastically transformed how they understood themselves and their relationship with God. First, the fall of the kingdom of Israel to the Neo-Assyrian Empire, which created an influx of well-educated YHWH-worshiping refugees into the kingdom of Judah, and … Continue reading The God of the Exiles
One of the most important things we need to remember about the Bible is that it is a library, not a book. And like any library worth its salt, the Bible contains different perspectives within it (while, yes, telling an overarching story). This is especially true of the Old Testament, where we see theological debates … Continue reading The God of the Prophets
[I originally wrote this post three years ago, the last time these readings came up in the lectionary, and it was still the message that was on my heart for them. If you'd like a more focused discussion of the Beatitudes, please see my two posts on them from the Back to Basics series, here … Continue reading What God Requires of Us: A Reflection on Micah 6.1-8 and Matthew 5.1-12 [Re-Post]
Matthew Root 