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ease and unease: Revelation 18, Psalm 146

December 27, 2011 by David Baer

The biblical witness privileges the anxiety that we resist.

Taking up a motif that is common to the Old Testament prophets, the Book of Revelation celebrates the demise of ‘Babylon’ by mocking the ease in which she had luxuriated.

Give her (that is, to Babylon) as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.’ (Revelation 18:7 NIV)

It is often this way when a privileged class of human beings or an erstwhile superpower comes under YHWH’s judgment. Sarcastic irony is deployed against the certainty with which the fallen victim once assumed that his wealth and safety would endure forever. When one gathers such statements together, it appears almost as though presumption itself stands as an indictment again the one who deploys it to ward off the fear of fragility that lesser mortals endure as a feature of everyday life. Continue Reading »

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speaking truth to power: Daniel 5

November 28, 2011 by David Baer

Pathetic Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, is that shadowy diminishment of his great father Nebuchadnezzar that is familiar to readers of royal drama.

Our phrase ‘the writing is on the wall’—everyone knows what it means—comes from a frightening incident on the last day of this king’s sad, little life. Yet we struggle to recall Belshazzar’s name. Continue Reading »

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new book!: Dan Schmidt, Our Savior Come. An Advent Companion

October 24, 2011 by David Baer

From time to time words like those that flow onto this blog find their way into other streams.

I’m happy to announce that my friend Dan Schmidt has just published a book you may want to pick up in print or digital format.

Our Savior Come, An Advent Companion presents a collection of essays intended to walk with you as you navigate the forthcoming Christmas season.

I was delighted to contribute a piece entitled ‘No God in Israel?’.

If you read canter bridge, you’ll likely want to own this book. Get it here.

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not many wise: 1 Corinthians 1

August 5, 2011 by David Baer

The Bible maintains a consistently high regard for those human qualities and actions that are noble, elevated, and good. Indeed, it encourages one to view such things in proximity to that dignity or glory which belongs in its purest form only to God.

Yet the biblical witness remains unimpressed by the tawdry or ungenuine proxies for those qualities represented by—for example—class or economic potency or impressive speech or educational credentials. It is not that any of these things is necessarily bad, just that they are awful measures of what is truly good. Too often, such things elevate what deserves to remain low and blind our eyes from recognizing what is best esteemed. Continue Reading »

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no hurry: Proverbs 20

August 4, 2011 by David Baer

Those well-intentioned stewards of spiritual humility who make ‘the depravity of man’ their first and central principle fall easily into a rigidity that does not characterize the biblical witness which they claim as their source. Scripture’s own assessment of humankind underscores human dignity and potentiality at the same time as it holds tight to the brokenness in which these things are realized.

Yet partisans of human corruption, if it is not unfair to understand their purpose in this way, are on to something. Continue Reading »

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get up!: Proverbs 20

August 1, 2011 by David Baer

One could wish, on a sleepy morning’s reading, for something more inspiring, more … um … spiritual.

Do not love sleep, or else you will come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread. (Proverbs 20:13 NRSV)

The expression at first seems an exaggeration: Don’t love sleep. Continue Reading »

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feasting amid foes: Psalm 23

July 30, 2011 by David Baer

The generative peculiarity of the twenty-third Psalm lies in its refusal to compromise the threat.

The valley of deep darkness (traditionally, ‘the valley of the shadow of death’) and the surrounding enemies remain intact. Their destructive capacity is not underestimated nor is the enemies’ sinister intention disavowed. They are simply left, in the poetics of the psalm, to be what they are. Continue Reading »

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ordinary fury: Romans 12

July 29, 2011 by David Baer

Paul is not pollyannish in the face of evil’s reality.

The apostle names opposition to God’s purposes with supple and varied vocabulary. There are ‘principalities and powers’, ‘rulers’, ‘dominions’, and ‘authorities’. Paul can discourse widely upon the power of sin and death. He lays hold of imagery of warfare, its weapons, and its equipment to paint the picture of the bellicose environment in which the follower of Jesus sooner or later discovers himself.

Yet in the twelfth chapter of his letter to the Romans, as he describes the confrontation of good with evil, Paul’s language is decidedly civilian.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21 NRSV)

Paul places his readers in the power position. They are not so much potential victims of evil as its conqueror. Yet the battle tactics are asymmetrical. They will not experience their conquest over evil as the result of employing evil’s own tools. Continue Reading »

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deep water: Proverbs 20

July 28, 2011 by David Baer

The human being, in his or her majestic complexity, is almost inscrutable.

We only rarely know ourselves, and never exhaustibly. How then can we know another?

The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out. (Proverbs 20:5 ESV)

What is his end game? What does she want? What is his deepest passion? How can she find what she seeks? Continue Reading »

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pending wealth: Romans 11

July 27, 2011 by David Baer

The apostle Paul seems incapable of discerning the intentions of Israel’s God in straight lines and transparent mathematics. Something is always up. Something deeper than we know is in the mix.

When Paul traces mercy’s purpose, mystery—though neither confusion nor cluelessness—is axiomatic. Continue Reading »

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