Lection and Liturgy

There are a number of places in the bible where we encounter stories that are difficult, not only because we find them hard to understand, but because we find them morally repugnant. Quite often, the biblical story-teller narrates them without giving the listener any real clue what to think about them. The feminist scholar Phyllis Trible refers to them as Texts of Terror 1 and many of those she focusses on are about women as the victims of male violence. Some of these stories occur already in the first book of the Bible, so this seems like a good place to comment on them. One of the most famous of this kind of story – but by no means the worst – is at once bafflingly brutal and strangely powerful. It is effectively what we today would call a story of physical child abuse. It crops up in the lectionary on several occasions. This is the story of Abraham taking Isaac, his only son, to sacrifice him at God’s command. At the last moment, God prevents the human sac...

The bible and Maria von Trapp share the same approach to learning: they start at the very beginning. Getting the do-re-mi of the scale right was essential to appreciating the sound of music; understanding the world as God’s good creation is the foundation for hearing the song of the universe. The pillars of creation – a detail from M16, the Eagle Nebula © NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage The book of Genesis falls into two distinct sections: the opening eleven chapters belong to a time essentially outside history. They deal with the same topics as the myths of other ancient Mesopotamian cultures: creation, flood, humanity and god(s). However, they give these common elements their own spin. The biblical God does not need help making the world. The biblical world is not a battleground between gods, but a home for humanity made by a kind creator. This God does not typically create or destroy on a whim, or in competition with other deities, but looks for humanity’s well-being, while e...