“What the Psalter gives us is a world occupied by God. The work of the Psalter is to populate our world with this character who transforms. And the world becomes a place of joy and duty, and joyous duty, a place of buoyancy and risk. But we itch to be left in a joyless, duty-free world that is noticeably short on buoyancy and empty of risk. But because we have entered this counter-world of the Psalter, we may decide differently. The people of this covenantal duty enjoy buoyancy and risk, are characteristically lost in wonder, love, and praise.”
I found what Brueggemann said about Psalm 46 to be especially resonant but my generator time is limited so it will have to wait till Central Maine Power reconnects us.
Good grief -- what absolute and utter drivel.
ReplyDeleteYou and I and everyone who knows you knows you didn't listen to it. And Walter Brueggemann is widely considered the greatest living English language scholar of the Hebrew scriptures. You're the greatest living blog troll on this blog, your one and only superlative. You're not even #1 at Duncan's, though, in a manner of speaking, you're always #2.
ReplyDeleteI think of them as dog farts. Appropriate, somehow.....
Delete"Walter Brueggemann is widely considered the greatest living English language scholar of the Hebrew scriptures"
DeleteAn accomplishment as relevant to contemporary life as being the greatest living English language scholar of Norse myths.
In so far as the concepts of life and morality that Norse paganism are far more relevant to the corporate fascism of the United States, Britain and elsewhere, that's probably truer in ways that you only unwittingly touch on than you could think. Its phony, material, created Gods, its nationalism, its devaluation of others, etc. are what govern Trumpian fascism as they do your side of that banal, vulgar, amoral materialism.
DeleteIt is the alternative to that, which Brueggemann brilliantly lines out in that lecture that is a product of the Jewish scriptures. To the extent that the United States is governed by those laws is the extent to which it is a liberal democracy, what the idiot play-left was duped into abandoning by the phony left of Marxism, anarchism, scientism, etc. That's no alternative to corporate fascism because they're fed from the same sewer of materialism.
The reason we have Trump is because the Left duped people into going to see those crappy Thor movies? Interesting theory, Sparkles.
DeleteOf course, what Hollywood put out is the sum total of what you know about Norse mythology, it's what you know about everything, if that. You could be the poster child of what happens when children are advanced when they fall behind their grade level achievement.
DeleteVulgar materialism always ends up in the same place, you're just one of billions who live there.
Except dogs often seem to know enough to feel embarrassed about them. Or to realize they stink.
ReplyDeleteWe got our power back this afternoon, apparently. I wonder how long till the next storm knocks it out again.