I Didn't Like Your Post
A brief meditation on Facebook, fear, and the love (fear) of men.
Scott Newling
An Anglican minister in Sydney, I seek to exemplify a theologically-determined, pastoral- & lay-driven approach to ministry. I also have a research experience in ANE History & Old Testament Exegesis.
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Sydney, NSW, Australia
Reading Psalms: 5. A Compilation of Poetry
Unlike other books of the Bible, Psalms and Proverbs are overtly and easily recognisable as compilations of material. Even if Proverbs is loosely 'of Solomon' and Psalms is 'of David', each book is clear that there are several - or, indeed, many - authors.
Reading Psalms: 4. Which King?
As we read Psalms, we've been growing in our understanding of the Messiah: Jesus. In doing so, we’ve jumped quickly from the Psalm to the Psalm-as-about-Jesus. Strictly speaking, however, these Psalms come to us not independent of but through history.
Reading Psalms: 3. Who?
In any text of the Bible one of the foundational questions we have to ask is ‘who is speaking?’ and ‘who is being spoken to?’ Identifying who the pronouns of a text belong to - and where we belong in that, if anywhere at all - is a key aspect to faithful reading.
Reading Psalms: 2. Poets of Rare Words
Hebrew poetry leaves verbs behind. It still has them, but it has them far less frequently than it does in prose. In fact, there was a period of time where some scholars resorted to a statistical analysis of verbs in ratio to nouns to identify poetry vs prose!
Reading Psalms: 1. Hebrew Poetry Repeats Itself
What is poetry? While it’s generally an easy genre to identify, and we tend to know it when we see it, on the other hand, poetry can be a really difficult genre to define even if we can describe the various elements of poetry with relative ease.
Does the Church Have Priests?
You might think that such a simple question has a very simple answer: unfortunately not! Let me take you through what the Bible says about priests and church, some translation issues and mistakes made in history, and then summarise.
Thinking After the Trinity: A Letter, A Word, & A Dance
Trinity Sunday appropriately comes after Pentecost (the Father’s giving of the Spirit through the Son). The appropriateness reflects the history of the church’s formulations of biblical doctrine, which took over three centuries to thrash out.
Who Is The Holy Spirit?
Many Christians feel the need to promote the Spirit’s personhood in terms of his uniqueness, else we ‘forget’ or ‘neglect’ the Holy Spirit. But the unasked question remains: does the Spirit himself feel the need to define his personhood in this way?
Faithfulness and Fruitfulness in Ministry
Co-Authored with Dan McKinlay. In this age of salvation, God not only brings us into his kingdom through Jesus, but gives us the joy of participating in the work of proclaiming that kingdom as well. What, then, is our responsibility before God?
Bored of The Cross?
What distinguishes Jesus’ crucifixion from every other performed by the Romans? Tens of thousands were crucified. And it doesn’t take much for us to remember Spartacus, where there was the mass crucifixion of 6,000 people along the Appian Way.
Depression, Anxiety, and Work
We have responsibility before God to work; we are not to be lazy. But what does this mean for the person who suffers from depression or anxiety? Because depression and anxiety can outwardly resemble the all characteristics of laziness.
A Real-World Bible
Epimenides and Menander. 1 Enoch and 2 Esdras, and the Assumption of Moses. What do each of these authors and books have in common?Their commonality is that they are all quoted in the New Testament.The Bible is a real-world Bible.
Reading or Speaking The Bible?
Writing is an act of speech; reading is an act of listening. This is helpful to remember, since, particularly in memory cultures, the written word often functioned as the preservation of or aid to recall the spoken; texts were read out loud.
God's Hard Words Are Still Good Words
As Ezekiel experienced his vision, the word of judgement ‘tasted as sweet as honey’ in his mouth. The things he would experience in his ministry were terrifying: he’d lose his speech, lose his freedom, lose his wife. Yet he is taught that even God’s hard words are good.
Words to Build Up; Words to Tear Down
I was recently reminded of one of the displays of the Parker Library. One of the cabinets has an original of the Articles of Religion written by Thomas Cranmer. In the same cabinet, however, is the bill for the wood purchased for Cranmer’s burning as an heretic.