As the kingdom of Israel wore on, a succession of unfaithful and power-hungry kings failed in their commission to shepherd the people of Israel. As things went astray, and the priests tended to side with the administration; that's where the power, money, and privilege was. As part of the loyal opposition, God raised up itinerant prophets to remind the government of its duty and to tell the people outright not to follow such kings.   One of the fiery prophets was Elijah, whom

Since this book of the prophet Jeremiah is a collection of his sermons over a period of more than 40 years, we can expect some abrupt starts and stops. Did Baruch the scribe arrange the sermons chronologically? Probably, though it is not out of the question that he might pair up some sermons with similar themes even if one is early and another one later.   Also, certain themes might shift in meaning over time. For example, in the early sermons when Jeremiah said, as God told

Anthropologists have reported for every society that stories are used to build a people’s worldview. Of course, there are compelling stories and then there are competing stories challenging the main vision of reality. Social organization often emerges from this struggle over whose story captures the meaning of people’s existence. Leaders work mightily to protect their power by controlling which story gets heard. We see this all around us.   Social psychologists have shown tha

Denial. Some people live in that excuse as long as they can. One says: ‘Our nation is at risk’. Another answers: ‘Oh, really; we’re not as bad as other nations’. ‘We are headed for a recession’. ‘Eggs are cheaper; the economy is doing fine’. ‘OK, this conversation is going nowhere’.   The passage of Scripture before today’s study was a hymn of praise for the wonderful God that we adore: “ It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and b