The events of 2 Samuel 11-12 depicting the encounter between David and Bathsheba and its fallout mark “the great turning point of the whole David story.” 1 According to its traditional superscription, Psalm 51 was composed by David following his dramatic confrontation with the prophet Nathan. This great penitential psalm has rightly occupied a cherished place in the life of worship and prayer of the Christian church through the ages. In many traditions, it is corporately read or sung on Ash Wednesday. Reflecting upon the psalm leads Robert Barron to observe the somewhat counter-intuitive connection between saint and sinner in the Christian faith: Continue reading On Saints and Sinners→
Robert Alter, The David Story: A Translation with Commentary of 1 and 2 Samuel (New York: W.W. Norton, 1999), 249, quoted in Robert Baron, 2 Samuel (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2015), 95. ↩
In his continuing commentary on the story of David dancing before the ark of the covenant in 2 Samuel 6, Robert Barron observes that there is another aspect of the passage that is puzzling to modern readers. Namely, how on earth could anyone dance before the law? (We must remember that the tablets of the Ten Commandments were housed within the ark.) Barron observes, “it would be difficult to imagine anyone dancing with joy before the tax code or the latest motor vehicle statutes, or even before the U.S. Constitution.” 1 However, David and the people of Israel dance with all their might before the law! Continue reading What Does Sinai Have to Do With Augusta?→
Robert Barron, 2 Samuel (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2015), 60. ↩
I have been following the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible series with great interest since the publication of its first volume over ten years ago. The central premise of the series is that “the Nicene tradition, in all of its diversity and controversy, provides the proper basis for the interpretation of the Bible as Christian scripture.” 1Continue reading The Dance Goes On→
R.R. Reno, series preface in Robert Barron, 2 Samuel (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2015), xiv. ↩
On Saturday, my family laid to rest my wife’s grandmother. On Sunday morning, Christians throughout the world gathered to celebrate the resurrection. I missed both gatherings. Continue reading The Lord of the Dance→
James Pedlar, Assistant Professor of Wesley Studies and Theology at Tyndale Seminary, arranged for the faculty to share in conversation over lunch today with visiting scholar Donald Dayton. Dayton is a theologian who has done extensive work on the Holiness and Pentecostal traditions. Two of his most well-known works are Discovering an Evangelical Heritage and Theological Roots of Pentecostalism. The conversation centered on questions surrounding evangelical identity and narrating the history of evangelicalism. Continue reading The Question of Evangelical Identity→
