Throughout most of Christian history, the Psalms were easily the most-read part of the Bible, read at every liturgical gathering and forming the basis of personal prayer. They have been called the Hymnbook of the People of God, and have marked the hours, days, and seasons for generations of monastics and other Christians. But, what … Continue reading Understanding Biblical Genres: Psalms
“No one comes to the Father except through me.” There are perhaps no words of Jesus more contentious today than these, which are found in today’s Gospel reading from John 14. For centuries now they have been used to justify Christians’ belief in their exclusive access to truth, salvation, and God. This in turn has … Continue reading The Way, The Truth, and the Life?: A Reflection on John 14.1-14
Today in this survey of biblical genres we turn to a group of related genres, known collectively as ‘Wisdom Literature’, before discussing its constituent genres in the the next week or so. Now, to talk about Wisdom Literature in the context of the Bible may sound a bit funny because, of course the Bible is … Continue reading Understanding Biblical Genres: Wisdom Literature
The other day, we looked at how the genre of Biblical literature called Prophecy worked; we saw how the prophets weren’t so much predicting the future as they were providing commentary on current events and policy. Today I’d like to look at a related, but perhaps even more misunderstood genre: Apocalyptic. This is a particularly … Continue reading Understanding Biblical Genres: Apocalyptic
The premise of this series is that by better understanding the literary genres in which the books of the Bible were written, the better we are able to understand the Bible itself. The next two posts provide the two biggest examples of this, for they are the two major genres where misunderstandings run rampant (especially … Continue reading Understanding Biblical Genres: Prophecy
Matthew Root 