God’s very real presence in our lives is unaffected by how we are feeling. She ends this Revelation with the insight that “bliss lasts forever, and pain passes and will come to nothing.”
Revelations of Divine Love – Revelation Seven Read More »
Julian’s physical vision of the Crown of Thorns gives way to a spiritual vision of Jesus enwrapping us, enfolding us, embracing us, and wholly enclosing us within his love so that we can never be truly parted.
Revelations of Divine Love – The First Revelation Read More »
Ultimately, the prophetic imagination does not simply herald the reversal of the socio-economic order, but the overcoming of Death, Hell, and the spiritual forces of darkness.
The Prophetic Imagination – Energizing and Amazement in Jesus of Nazareth Read More »
It is Jesus’s crucifixion that is his decisive criticism of the royal consciousness that must have order. Jesus was not killed by the rabble but by the religious and political authorities of the day.
The Prophetic Imagination – Criticism and Pathos in Jesus of Nazareth Read More »
Into this abyss of suffering, the prophet of hope and amazement begins to speak with the words “Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God.” Isa. 40:1. Jeremiah’s Rachel who refuses to be comforted (Jer. 31:15), has been answered.
The Prophetic Imagination – Prophetic Energizing and the Emergence of Amazement, pt.2 Read More »
The working example (which I assume Brueggemann had in mind in 1978) of this penetration of despair, is the civil rights movement, and specifically, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech:
The Prophetic Imagination – Prophetic Energizing and the Emergence of Amazement, pt.1 Read More »
Jeremiah also grieves because, like Isiah, he is speaking to a people who simply cannot and who simply refuse to hear. The Royal Consciousness has closed the ears to hear the words of the prophet.
The Prophetic Imagination – Prophetic Criticizing and the Embrace of Pathos, pt.2 Read More »
At a more fundamental level, Brueggemann writes that prophetic critique must be grounded in pathos. He points out that the royal management consciousness that is rooted in practicality and reasonableness leads to apathy, or the denial of experience, emotions, empathy, and imagery.
The Prophetic Imagination – Prophetic Criticizing and the Embrace of Pathos, pt.1 Read More »
The word Mark uses for “transfiguration” is metamorphoses, the title of Ovid’s poem. In Mark’s use of this term, like his use of the word “gospel” to open his work, he wants us to see that Jesus is Lord and God, not Ceasar.
Epiphany – The Transfiguration, Mark 9:2-13, pt.2 Read More »
The Transfiguration shows us Jesus’ metamorphosis from an itinerant preacher and healer in Galilee into the fullness of his purpose and being as the Messianic Son of God to be crucified in Jerusalem as the ransom for many.
Epiphany – The Transfiguration, Mark 9:2-13 Read More »
