The Life of Faith
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Bread in the Desert
Luke 4:3–8 and Deuteronomy 8:1–6 Trusting in the Desert The desert has long been associated with Christian spirituality. As a harsh environment it necessitates trust in God and his provision. Other than the struggle for survival there are few distractions. The desert, or wilderness, speaks of testing too. Even in modern Western culture it has Continue reading
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A Review of Tim Judson’s ‘Awake In Gethsemane’
Tim Judson, Awake in Gethsemane: Bonhoeffer and the Witness of Christian Lament, Waco, Texas: Baylor Press, 2023. 220 pages. ISBN 978-1-4813-1830-3 I have never singled out the cover designer in a theological book review before, but Kasey McBeath deserves a mention here. The dark olive tree cover motif conjures Gethsemane before the book is even Continue reading
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Blessed are they that Mourn
1. As Blossoms Smitten by the Rain When did you last shed a tear? Was it a tear of joy, sadness, or some other emotion. I am prone to well-up when something gets to me in terms of humour. Tim Vine—a contemporary English comedian—in particular gets to me. When I listen to him, the first Continue reading
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Psalm 126: Dancing with Tears in Our Eyes
This Vale of Tears This psalm speaks of a tension in this life between joy and tears. As human beings we tend to learn of both joy and tears before we even have any serious understanding of the world in which we live. Who hasn’t seen (or heard!) a baby’s tears? Who hasn’t been delighted Continue reading
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Walking the Line with Proverbs 4
Wising Up One of my favourite films, Magnolia, has the weirdest of trailers where every member of the cast is in the middle of their dysfunctional life and the singer Aimee Mann pops by singing the song Wise Up. They even join in, whether dying in bed, being a confused policeman or in the midst Continue reading
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The Best of Regulated Families? 1 Thessalonians 2:1–12
1. Behaving Like Young Children When I was growing up my Nan was infamous for stating proverbs. One of these was: Accidents happen even in the best of regulated families. Perhaps this is familiar to you? It’s a saying that has been around for at least 200 years. You can find it, for example, in Continue reading
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Julian of Norwich and Leonard Cohen’s Window
For various reasons I have been reading Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love over the past month, or so. By chance a month ago I heard Leonard Cohen’s song The Window, and since then I have been left pondering whether he had Julian in mind when he wrote this song. For two reasons I Continue reading
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Nick Cave’s Seven Psalms
Generative Possibility Nick Cave’s album, Seven Psalms, was released on the 17th June 2022. I discovered this collection because of the title’s likely nod to the Penitential, or Seven, Psalms. This post is a review of Cave’s short album, but one with a difference. By considering seven features—or signs—of the biblical psalms I address the Continue reading
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Psalm 102: Bird on a Wire
This is the third of a series of occasional posts on the penitential psalms. Here we will focus on a single aspect of Psalm 102: its use of ornithological imagery. Pictorial language is not only central to the very nature of the psalms, but it is also key to understanding them. Focusing on the threefold Continue reading
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The Scorpion: Jesus in the Wilderness
This post is inspired by The Scorpion, one of Stanley Spencer’s Christ in the Wilderness series. Here the painting is not a replacement for the Bible but rather a means to a fresh perspective on some aspects of Jesus preparing for his ministry. Given recent world events we don’t need to work hard to remember Continue reading
About Me
This blog’s central aim is to explore all aspects of how the Psalter (the biblical psalms) functions as Scripture today.
To this end it will also include book reviews on the Book of Psalms and related topics.
Some posts will reflect more broadly on biblical interpretation or hermeneutics.
If you like what you see here and want to arrange for me to give a lecture, run a teaching event or a short retreat based around The Psalms then contact me so we can discuss how this might work.
PsalterMark 