Wisdom books’ rewards

If I were to compare and contrast the Wisdom books and the Prophetic books, the most obvious observation maybe that the former focuses on right living, and the later focuses on the consequences of failure to carry out such lifestyle. The prophetic books does touch on blessings, often vaguely, When it comes to punishment however, its languages and imageries are more than detailed, wildly and vividly portraying the destruction of Assyrians, Babylonians, and even the “might” Israelites. So what are these blessing then? Why doesn’t the Bible spell it out clearly but rather devote a whole book of Proverbs to teach us to live right? To claim the Israelites tried living abide the Torah without such incentive is equally crazy. Perhaps the reality is clear if I take a step back and observe the world around us. It’s no wonder a fruit tree living in the right environment can bear good fruit; a turtle can live a long prosperous life if it doesn’t by chance come in touch with humans. God has created this world that he calls good, in which right living leads to natural blessings, albeit they maybe too obvious for us to glance over.

- thoughts after reading the 3rd book of Golingay’s first testament trilogy, chapter titled “Obeying YHWH”

Psalm 68:4

Hermits Rest, Grand Canyon

ḥērem

I have been tinkering with this word for a while, after reading Goldingay’s take on this, I want to simply jot down a few disjointed thoughts for future reference:

• The literal translation of “devote” vs. “destroy” have led to some misreading of the text.
• There are incidences (see Num 21:1-3) where it’s an idea originated from the Israelites, and YWHW allowed it without objection.
• It is important to preserve the distinctiveness of Israel, and for a small group of people to coexist with a larger group, it is bound to lose its identity (YWHW’s concern for Israelites to worship other gods). Therefore, ḥērem is a means to protect this uniqueness at the expense of other less fortunate.
• War’s brutality is a break from the beautiful creation, something is lost when blood is shed (the term “defiled” is used and Moses commanded the returning soldiers to purify themselves outside the camp before returning). However, it was a necessary evil for God to give the land to Israel (some due to other tribes’ recalcitrance and lack of wisdom). By practicing ḥērem, it also demonstrates the motivation is not for gaining slaves or material possessions.
• It is a way for the Israelites to be reminded of who is leading them to such victory, especially with regard to the fall of Jericho.
• The Israelites consistently failed to carry out ḥērem in its entirety, and often demonstrated social/economic bias, i.e. killing all men but not women, keeping fattened animals for themselves.
• Like other stories in the Bible, just because it happened at one point in time, it is by no means a command for anyone to follow today. Even worse, we should not use such stories to justify our actions today.

All this said, it is still very much confusing to me how a loving God could allow or sometimes even encourage ḥērem…

Time to read again… Goldingay time!

After a couple months of hiatus from serious reading, I’m very excited to receive the three volume Old Testament theology by John Goldingay in the mail today. The three volume is each titled: Israel’s Gospel, Israel’s Faith, and Israel’s Life. I quickly moved on to reading the intro, trying to grasp how he organized his theology, and here is how:

God began.

Humanity turned its back on God’s instructions, and God started over.

God promised, and a family grew.

Israel cried out, and God delivered.

God sealed, and Israel imperiled.

God gave, and Israel took.

Israel equivocated, and God accommodated.

Israel turned away, and God wrestled.

God preserved, and Israel turned back.

I really like this clear narrative outline. Even more so, I appreciate how he could see our own culture could cloudy our eyes to interpret the Scripture. Even though the Scripture is divine revelation, it doesn’t make it less confusing or complex. I can’t wait to read more and see how he goes about defending this statement he made, “…the way scriptural narrative makes it possible to do more justice to the complexity of reality. It enables Scripture to make the variety of statements that need to be made about deep and complex questions.”

Pluralism in faith? I think so…

Brueggemann offers the following correlation on the three major prophetic poetry:

Ezekiel is concerned with holy presence in the priestly tradition; Jeremiah is concerned with the covenantal fidelity as in the Deuteronomy tradition; and Isaiah is more associated with the J tradition (Yawhist tradition, where the promise of Abraham is fulfilled by David) and being a blessing to the nations.

In three different ways, at slightly different era, three prophets offered their theological interpretation of the disasters that’s soon to come upon Israel. They don’t stop there without providing hope, a hope that’s centered on holiness, fidelity and God’s promise (good news).

Then he offers his view: (italics added)

“First, the tradition, all the way down, is pluralistic and allows for great freedom in the delineation of faith. The cluster of texts offers a wide range of legitimate ways in which to voice hope in YHWH. Second, in the framing of the tradition, no voice or narrative trajectory is permitted to defeat the others in the interest of a single, authoritative rendering. Perhaps that is what we might best expect in a community under pressure, a readiness to give room to others to voice in the faith in a way that has compelling power for them.

This latter point about pluralism all the way down and a refusal to allow a dominant voice a victory is an important one as we ponder the ‘local tradition’ of the church in the U.S. empire. In recent religious discourse in the United States, the quarrelsome voice of sectarian exclusiveness has been sounded on all sides, left and right. But what could be more foolish (or unfaithful?) than to be busy excommunicating others in faith when the community is under deep imperial duress. The contemporary church amid empire may be instructed by the evidence of the Old Testament canon. It is apparent that Israel, in its displacement, did not push toward a monolith of faith or voice. Rather, it allowed immense diversity and freedom of articulation, surely recognizing a commonality of belonging, even with widely variant voices. It is in the nature of the poetic to permit other voices to stand alongside. But when poetry is misperceived as doctrine, the gracefulness of poetry is readily defeated by closure. A displaced community cannot easily embrace closure, for to do so is to replicate the lethal temptation of the empire in its anxiety. Empires seek closure, that is, a final interpretation. And final interpretations run toward final solutions. But the emancipatory texture of these displaced poets knows quite otherwise.“

Lamentation & Triumphalism

Recently picked up Brueggemann’s book, “Out of Babylon.” In it, he compared America to Assyria and Babylon. There are certainly many parallels, most importantly the unchallenged position of America’s domination at present time and the sentiment of America being God’s chosen nation. Not until 9/11, did America as a nation start to doubt its invulnerability, its unique exemption from the sorrows of the world, namely poverty and war. Even in the wake of 9/11, America under the leadership of Bush moved quickly past lament into revenge, vowing to take on the terrorists.

The church in America is also every bit influenced by this culture of triumphalism. It’s rarely a focus of preaching to focus on the Friday death, if mentioned, it’s almost always in conjunction with the Easter resurrection. We cite “Chris has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again” regularly, but we almost never stop after “Christ has died,” to pause, to internalize the agony, pain and suffering. It’s so seductive to move to the joyous celebration of resurrection, the triumph over death, and the hope it brings.

I’m certainly not suggesting it’s not important to focus on Easter resurrection, that is every bit as important to the Christian faith as Jesus’s death on the cross. However, I dare to think it’s important to dwell on both equally, to truly understand the love of our savior poured out for us on the cross, and to live life with the hope of a future promised by Him. This is where the Book of Lamentations become so important. It is in these five chapters the Jews taught us how to grieve, especially when there seems to be no way out of the situation. The five poems teaches us how to grieve properly, not to rush it, but to fully express how we feel, to become human.

“Deep Exegesis” by Peter Leithart

I have spent the last couple of years reading mostly on biblical theology, yet I have never done the hard work of actual exegesis. Leithart’s take on the written words of the Bible give me a renewed appreciation for how the text is written, its structure, its word choice, and its revelation to us as events unfold in time. He focuses on the figurative usage of words, allusions attached, and events recalled. His argument is the text doesn’t have an end, as readers of different background living in different times will have different interpretations; therefore encouraging continuous interpretation of the text. He uses John 9 as the primary example to demonstrated how to appropriately exegete on the story of Jesus healing the blind man could convey the Gospel message then and now. When he breaks the text down, it is so fascinating to see all the hidden gems the Bible has that I have overlooked. Exegesis is hard work, and I’d love to see more scholars spend more time going back to the text and take it seriously.

Belgium beer cycling

Sunday:
I have arrived! Had a pleasant flight sitting next to an engineering professor from the university in Ghent, he was able to give me good tips for the trip. Now I’m sitting in the hotel lobby, and can’t wait to get the tour started!

I’m super impressed with all my tour mates’ beer knowledge, far beyond my level of understanding! My fellow D90 user is a free lance writer for several beer magazines. He is on the tour so this is more or less work for him, really looking forward to his articles in the months to come.

We visited the famous Delirium Cafe, a place that earned the Guinness record of 2094 beers on the menu in year 2004. It was quite challenging to pick out what to order to say the least, but a fun process though. I hope to post pictures of this place, which uses oak barrels as tables, and hangs lots of vintage beer posters, and service trays.

Delirium Cafe

First Westy 12 sighting in the La Bier Temple, the largest beer store in town (400 beers). The label was ripped off of the bottle (have to look on the cap) but someone in our group spotted it, and it goes for 11euro. [learned later the Westys don't have labels on the bottle!] The monks don’t allow sale of Westy beers except the one designated cafe across the street from the abbey, otherwise they will blacklist you (i wonder if reconciliation happens…).

Mannequin Pis, it's tiny in person!!

Grand Place

Monday, 40 mile ride to Anywerp:
The Belgian bike system is rather impressive. All the roads are marked with clear numbers and covers pretty much the entire country. On our trip to Antwerp, our paths were mostly through suburbs, farms, and of course next to the canals. I have to say the Belgian suburbs are quite a scene. These are either old castle like houses or super modern houses that should belong at the city center. It’s got a great mixture but all built with bricks. The suburbs and the farms are also very close in proximity, where cows and goats happily graze the grassland, or strange looking flowers/fruits grow.

first of two ferry rides on the trip

Midway through the ride is the famous Duvel brewery. It is currently owned by the 4th generation of the Moortgat family (25% owned by stockholders and traded on Belgian exchange). Bridgett gave us a tour of the facility. It started out with an epic 7minute long video in the theater room, mostly focused on the family. The actual tour was fascinating. Besides acquiring a wealth of brewing knowledge, fun facts such as it takes 7 liter of water to brew 1 liter of beer, the real highlight was in the bottling room. It has an machine that recognizes all the recycled bottles, and were able to separate out Duvel bottles from the rest. Then it sends to the washing station followed by the label peeling station. Of course a tour won’t be complete without a “confrontation” as Bridgett puts it. However, I was fully expecting sample size beers, but apparently that’s just an American concept! Bridgett started out the “confrontation” by showing us how to pour a Duvel properly. Since the yeast is in the bottom of the bottle, it’s popular to leave 1cm in the bottle, so you have the choice to drink the beer without the yeast influence and drink the yeast separately, or pour it together. I was lucky enough to receive the demo beer and still get my allowance of two beers :) We were also served with aged Gouda, which complemented the beer perfectly.

Bridgett at Duvel showing us how to pour correctly

Tuesday: 45 miles to Zelzate
We went through some scenic routes but also endured some heavy rainfall. At the end we were rewarded with a visit to the Van Steeberge brewery, where the owner was kind enough to help us enjoy the Gulden Draak… ’nuff said…

Piet, the owner's father-in-law, kindly hosted us at Van Steenberge

Wednesday: 38 miles to Bruges
It was a tough ride after those Gulden Draak, but the sunny weather certainly made it easier. I had my first bike malfunction. As I tried to sprint on a flat road, my chain came off as I attempted to change gear. Evan, our tour guid,e was able to fix it fairly quickly. I suppose it’s not a complete ride if there weren’t any “accidents” right? I’m glad that tomorrow is a day of rest as my legs will sincerely thank me!

Thursday:
It was nice to have a break and being able to walk around the medieval city of Bruge. I like the scenery but I have to say it does not live up to the hype. There’s history, but too many semi-modern buildings and cars detract from the feeling of being back in time.

Bruges

 

taken from the top of the Belfort, which took a hike to get up there!

Now I’m sitting at a youth hostel bar waiting for my laundry to be done. It was rather confusing how to operate them here! Or it’s just me…

Friday: 41 miles to Lo
*This is re-write since WordPress somehow lost my last update…
To keep it short, we rode fast and furious after a day off. The highlight were a picnic in the De Dulle brewery’s backyard, and a visit to a brewery turned into museum. Lo and Ieper is in the heart of some of the bloodiest battles during WWI, and there were a few war cemetery sighting along the way. Riding by them I can almost feel the residual gunpowder lingering in the air. The place we stayed at is an old abbey brewery, and it’s situated right next to the St. Peter’s cathedral, which also means the old cemetery… Hmm

former abbey brewery, our hotel for the night

Saturday: 27 miles to Ieper
Today is the number one reason why I’m here in Belgium, to pay homage to the Abbey of Sintsixtus, maker of the world’s best beer – Westvleteren 12 (Westy 12). I was fearful this beer won’t live up to the hype, and that’d ruin my day. However, after a single sip of the Westy 8, the little brother of Westy 12, my doubts and fear evaporated immediately. If I didn’t know the existence of the 12, I may have to give the crown to the 8! When it was time to sample the 12, we also got some Trappist cheese to go along. The taste and finish of the 12 is so complex yet not a single attribute was overpowering; it’s by far the most balanced beer I have ever tasted! The bummer was the 12 isn’t for sale to take some back home today, perhaps this is the perfect excuse I needed to do another pilgrimage when I’m in Europe next.

only part of the abbey open to the public, its outdoor chapel

Tonight we are staying in Ieper, and the town is surprisingly lively. We witnessed the ceremony of the last call, a daily tradition here, in remembrance of those who lost their lives in this region during the WWI.

Ieper

Menin Gate, right before the start of the Last Call ceremony, notice all the names on the wall

Sunday & Monday: 35 miles to Ghent
The longest ride of the trip (54miles) was unfortunate cut short by the rain. We took a train partially but everyone was determined to cycle through most of it so we could live up to the theme of our trip, beer and cycling. Upon arriving Ghent, the city’s charm is obvious. Beautiful houses dot the canal, a castle in the middle of the city, and three really tall towers nearby. At night the buildings alongside the canal is well lit for added contrast with the darkened sky. Taking a boat cruise and a mini walking tour in the city, it only adds to my appreciation of this city, it’s history and beauty. For a change of pace, I visited a jenever(Belgium gin) bar. It’s a charming tiny little space, and the owner/distiller is this old man who has a gentle and calm demeanor; I was compelled to chat with him, and that was as enjoyable as tasting his 14 year old belegen jenever.

Ghent at night

 

Drupelkot, the jenever bar and its owner

Downward mobility – reflections on “Cruciformity”

Michael Gorman presented a thorough analysis on Paul’s narrative spirituality focused on the cross. This is not a book filled with theological ideologies often surrounds “what is Paul really saying here?”, rather Gorman takes a different approach and set out to figure out why Paul could say the cross gave him faith, hope and love. There is so much good in the book that I simply cannot digest quickly, however, the one thought of “downward mobility” really struck me. It’s the idea that Jesus did not utilize his divine nature to defy the cross, rather obeyed it out of love. It’s also Paul’s life story, one that denied himself of his apostle rights worked as a tentmaker (financial support being a major one), denounced his power and privilege, to win the hearts of many.

Being downwardly mobile is challenging in every social context, especially for those who have means. It’s a call for abandonment of privileges, to motivate people to make decisions not based on how it will impress their social-economic peers , rather how it will affect those with less. Often this idea has been distorted into a call for equality. I doubt this was Paul’s intention! The simple ideology of living to the standard of the lowest denominator in our world is not exactly feasible if you live in America. However, this does issue a personal challenge for me: to be considerate how my decisions/actions may negatively impact others, and examine how I could do differently to be more loving to those with less. I have the right to speak freely because the 1st amendment tells me so; I have the right to spend my money however I’d like because that’s the American dream my society tells me so; and I could go on and on… But Paul says:

though he (Jesus) was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant,t being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Philippians 1:6-8 (ESV)

bizarre wedding invitation response card… seriously?