Hebrew Bible and Christian Scriptures

The 3 types of psalms categorized by Walter Brueggemann. Which are orientation, disorientation and reorientation?

The Lord is my Shepherd. What is Psalm 23?

In the Psalms this is an editorial edition meant to give the reader guidelines for the poem. What is a superscription?

I’ve been thinking this week about Exodus, obviously, but especially 10-19.  What has captured my attention this week is the cry of the people to Moses, “why have you brought us out of…..”.  I think about how we as Christians willingly follow ideas, concepts, people, or movements because our lives are easier if we do this.  We follow God’s call for our lives and suddenly find ourselves in the wilderness, unable to catch our footing.  As the Israelites cry to Moses, “why have your brought us out of Egypt to die.  Were there no graves in Egypt?”, I can’t help but think of times in my life when it seems that God had brought me thus far only to leave me for the birds!  How unsure the Israelites must have felt during the transition process out of Egypt.  While we as the reader understand the purpose of the movement, the people, and even Moses at some point, must have felt confused and neglected.  Aren’t these emotions we feel as well?  In a story that seems so far out of reach for today’s society (I mean, afterall, God is not moving us to Canada!), we can indeed find commonalities to the Israelites.  This is when the story comes alive.  It’s no longer about Israelites, but God’s people universal.

Earlier this month I wondered about the role of the biblical theologian as a public intellectual.  I crowd sourced the topic through Facebook. First I want to present a little discussion on the definitions. Public intellectual is one who interprets her/his research for public consumption. One wonders how the scholar and the public intellectual fit together. I wondered and continue to wonder how the identity of the scholar and the public intellectual overlap.

Rolf A. Jacobson “I don’t think public intellectuals wear cowboy hats.”

Beth Tanner has already taught a course on the topic. She said “I actually have a whole class on it.  I teach the senior seminar in Public Theology.  Let me know your email and I can send you the syllabus and tell you about some of the things we have done.”

Kent Richards retired professor and executive director of the Society of Biblical Literature had some interesting observations about biblical scholars as public intellectuals.

“Very interesting comments above, thanks.  First, reflecting on the frequently stated concerns about “public theologians.”  Many us bemoan the fact that we have few colleagues who fit that role.  Figures like R. Niebuhr are not common (but they weren’t then!).  Others say that there have been few biblical “types” who have ever filled that role.  I wonder if we need to think about the role of the Internet.  Are we doing a better job there?  Maybe not.

Second, developing “new” habits that I was told about 40 years ago and which I have continued might be a starting point.  Read and reflect on regularly (every week) political opinions in a wide range of perspectives, not just the ones we like.  Place those thoughts in the context of our religious and theological readings.  This practice can get us into an internal dialogue that might lead to public expressions, not to mention create a more knowledgeable base.”

His idea of “new habits” is well worth pursuing.

Judye Pistiole a Presbyterian pastor wrote “i write a column every other week for the local newspaper. got the publisher to agree I could write about anything I wanted and say whatever I wanted. so sometimes i just write funny stuff and sometimes i engage the topics that i think need to be thought about. last week talked about our moral obligation as Christians to care for the sick. the week before it was humor about being a foodie.”

Lisa Knaggs a Presbyterian activist based in Austin Texas remarks. “glad you’re thinking about this- maybe if more pastors were allowed to get out of church and into the community (I think of Chuck Meyer, former chaplain at St. David’s hospital in Austin) then their lives are more engaged in public experience and therefore naturally, dialog…”

Jim Hardenbrook Church of the Brethren pastor and former moderator of the Church of the Brethren “I believe that is what Eugene Peterson calls for in most of his books about the pastorate.  How do you define “public intellectual”?”

Larry Grim commented “One hopes, for at least 20 minutes every Sunday morning! But seriously, I don’t think that ideal (unfortunately) as widespread as it once was — what about Bonhoeffer?”