Gorgeous Bruce Cockburn Cover

Take a few minutes and enjoy:



Over the slow slide of continents
Over the salt pans pipelines masts and pavilions
Shimmering crescent moon recedes into working dawn --
Lone crow against pallid sky
Single plume of white smoke on yellow speckled plain
Yellowing leaves sparkle in cold breeze --
Wave patterns among wave patterns
Particles disperse and rejoin
Dissolve and reform like the lining of a womb
Still
The cold of your absence blows from
The silent TV, the parking lot
The balcony with clothes waving good-bye/hello

In the rising day
You keep fading away
Don't I know that you're always around
I can reach you if I try
Lily of the midnight sky

Solders of sunrise -- shooting into a forest of flowers
Slow motion
Petals float into pink crimson white
Grow wings
Flutter into mountainous distance
Flutter like a stadium full of applauding hands
I raise a fist to the marauding sun that has hidden you away
I'm the rag in a bottle of gasoline
Longing to ignite
Ich will alles
All of you -- shining on the panther skin of night
Mirrored in a black lake in a night that glistens like blood on gold

Nobody else could be you
If only I could see you
I should be able to touch you somehow
I can reach you if I try
Lily of the midnight sky

While you look from on high
Spare a smile as I
Put on my dog mask and howl for you
I can reach you if I try
Lily of the midnight sky

Another Happy Boundary, but not without my 'shet-chayil

E-mailed a revised copy of my dissertation to Gorgias Press today (gorgiaspress.com) - whew! What a relief. Of course they'll send it back with editing stuff, but still. Anyone suffering from insomnia is more than invited to peruse it for an instant cure. That project has been with me since 2003, and while I'm so thankful for the chance to have studied the OT carefully, I can honestly say I don't care how its reviewed/received or how often its quoted. On to more important things!

Here's the acknowledgments (translation: "Without these people I would have been in a generally upward direction in the proverbial creek without said paddle.") The last acknowledgment is absolutely the most important. 'eshet-chayil is "wife of chayil," which can mean "faculty, power;" "wealth;" or "army." With regard to the woman I'm talking about, all possible connotations are present in the word: impressive resourcefulness; a source of blessing and abundance; an power to be reckoned with.

The book is a revised edition of my dissertation, completed in 2006 at New College, Edinburgh University. I am deeply indebted to my two advisors at Edinburgh, David Reimer and Nicolas Wyatt.

Nick’s expertise in all matters Ugaritic, expressed in his many publications, classroom lectures, and private conversations, was of profound benefit, especially as argued in Myths of Power: A Study of Royal Myth and Ideology in Ugaritic and Biblical Tradition (UBL 13; Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, 1996). While I inevitably found myself disagreeing on some issues, the present project is little more than an application of his ideas on the Chaoskampf and the nature of myth in Ugarit and the Old Testament to the theme of theophanic warfare in prophetic texts. Great thanks are also due to David Reimer, who cheerfully shouldered, in the midst of a busy schedule, the task of reading and critiquing the different papers which came to form the chapters of this dissertation. His advice, encouragement, and help with this project and on all areas of the study of the Hebrew Bible was invaluable and is deeply appreciated. I also express my thanks to my examiners, Prof. Hans Barstad, who acted as the internal examiner, and Prof. Hugh Williamson, of Oxford University, who acted as the external examiner. Their criticisms and suggestions were most helpful, and I am thankful for the attention which they have given to this dissertation. My fellow students at New College were a constant source of support and provided many opportunities to sharpen my ideas, especially Greg Wong, Alice Wood, Jim Critchlow, Darren and Elisabeth Kennedy (both of whom also helped with Arabic, and Darren with Karl Barth), Todd Daly, Jason Curtis, and Dustin Kunkel. No less helpful and inspiring have been my colleagues at Briercrest College and Seminary, where I have been privileged to teach for the last three years, especially David Guretzki, Marty Culy, Don Taylor, Ryan O’Dowd, Wes Olmstead, David Miller, Ken Guenter, and Sean Davidson. My father, Ray, pastor and Old Testament scholar (Ph.D., University of Aberdeen, 1985), has continued to be a source of encouragement and insight; my understanding of the Bible would be much the poorer without him. Finally, I cannot help but express admiration and gratitude to my wife Erin, in every way an 'eshet-chayil, without whom the dissertation certainly would not have been completed, and to whom I dedicate it with love, as well as my dear children Kate and Will.

That Deep Sense of Okay-ness

We were talking last night in my OT survey class about Joshua-Judges-Samuel. We talked about how these books, Israel's history, form a template for the church's relationship with her husband, Jesus Christ - and how these books prophetically show the possibility of large-scale, persistent unfaithfulness among God's people. Possibility? "Inevitability" would be a better word - "You are not able to serve the Lord" (Josh 24).

We talked about how the only thing separating us from Israel's failure is the Holy Spirit, who re-creates us from the ground up, taking out our hearts of stone and giving us a heart of flesh, to respond rightly and love and cleave to our divine lover.

But I tried to emphasize that the gift of the Spirit, and the newness of the new covenant, does not mean that we sail happily far above the tragedy of Israel's unfaithfulness and exile; rather, as Christians, we need that special facility, that sober willingness, to sit with and listen to the long, sad story of Israel's failure. We need a willingness to listen to and enter into that tragedy - and all too often, as I read the tragedy of the OT, I think, "Yikes . . . that's me. Yikes . . . that's my church." I recognize far more of myself in it that I want to.

Some Christians either do not have the facility or the willingness to sit inside of the tragedy of the OT--they're just not willing to walk through the valley of the shadow to get to restored Zion, or they're just too blissfully ignorant. But I made the case to my class that letting the OT lead us beneath the glitzy, surface-appearance of success to the incredible messed-up-ness of corrupt creation is necessary to be of any use in God's kingdom.

The answer to Israel's unfaithfulness in Joshua-Judges-Samuel is one answer, in three parts: (1) Spiritually empowered, illumined leaders - judges and kings - who lead God's people away from idols and back to their Husband; (2) our leader Jesus Christ, our greater Joshua, our great Judge and Deliverer and Davidic King, who leads us away from our idols and back to the Father; (3) Spirit-empowered and illumined Christ-ians, who will lead in ways which echo Christ's leadership other Christians away from idols and back to their Husband. That's the answer to the church's idolatry.

At one point, I was talking about how the external form of idolatry in ancient Israel's cultural context was different from ours, but the root issue was the same. A student asked what I thought the most common idol was among us today, and I answered, among other possibilities (foremost among them the worship of success and money and size that we Americans love), that I thought the most deeply ingrained idol we had was self-justification - the little strategies for making ourselves OK outside of throwing ourselves on the alien righteousness of Jesus Christ, given as a gift to losers. All the little ways I project OK-ness and try to feel OK about myself that avoid trusting in imputed righteousness - getting a paper published and putting together a perfect lecture and doing sit-ups and all the little ways I have of justifying myself to myself. But, "mirabile dictu," I'm learning to do it less, with God's help, and learning to lead others in doing so - not sailing above the tragedy in perfect victory, but watching as Jesus, through the Spirit, leads me through and thus out of it.

God Makes Some Pretty Amazing People

A Most August Association

It is with great joy and, I confess, not without some trepidation, considering the greatness of our endeavor, its potential consequences, and, indeed, its generally vast vista, that I announce and proclaim the second annual meeting of the Eric Ortlund Fan Club . . . oh, wait, I mean the Caronport Kung Fu Society, Friday at 7. Let me know if you want to come.

This week: Yojimbo ("Bodyguard"). I'm looking forward to it because (1) it's about samurai, and you have to work pretty hard to make them boring (2) it was made by Akira Kurosawa, so it will have flawless camera work.

Sherlock Holmes Meets H P Lovecraft

Can't help but point out the following gem of a story, from Neil Gaiman, whom I've referenced on this blog before, entitled "A Study in Emerald:" http://www.neilgaiman.com/mediafiles/exclusive/shortstories/emerald.pdf

Gaiman wrote the story for an anthology of stories combining the worlds of Sherlock Holmes and H. P. Lovecraft. Readers of this blog probably know the former author, but enjoyment of the story is increased exponentially by knowing something about the latter as well: Lovecraft was an early 20th century author of "weird fiction." His universe is populated with vast monstrosities which his characters stumble upon unawares, and have their own worlds shattered in the process: vast gibbering things which humanity cannot look upon and remain sane. It's a profoundly pessimistic, atheistic vision; humans are ants, subject to hostile forces which we cannot resist. (One of Lovecraft's finest--and shortest--stories is "Nyarlothep" [he tends to give his monsters names like that], which you can read here: http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/n.asp It's one of the finest examples, in my opinion, of a writer successfully creating a certain kind of effect in his readers, even while his readers are ready and expecting it--even with such a defended audience, I find the story "works" every time. I never find myself saying, "Oh, I'm reading a short story about a gigantic hostile force taking over humanity." I always find myself shivering as I say, "This is so totally creepy, dude! Wow!")

But I digress. You don't have to know Lovecraft to enjoy the story, but it helps.

I just can't get over how successfully Doyle is mimicked without being satirized. Even the Victorian-era advertisements about Frankenstein . . . oops, I said too much. Just go read it.

Here's Gaiman explaining the genesis of this particular story, in his own totally charming way:

What If You Win?

Elijah gets into an argument with God in 1 Kings 19. There's a lot going on in this passage, but what I find most striking is what God doesn't say to his perfectionistic, unyielding prophet. When Elijah twice accuses Israel of forsaking Yahweh, God doesn't turn back and say, "Hey, Elijah, don't be so discouraged: you just one a massive victory in ch. 18! All Israel turned from Baalism and re-committed themselves." In effect, God says, "You're right--and the problem is even worse than you know. The re-commitment you just won in ch. 18 does not cover over the deeper fact that my people are still devoted to their idols. Only another prophet after you and two warring kings, who will bring a violent purge to my people, will fix the problem."

In other words, God is more pessimistic than Elijah about the state of God's people . . . but he still has a strategy to win them. What if you have an argument with God, and "win" in the sense that God agrees with you, and then goes even further? And then goes on to say that he still has a plan to purge his people? Wow.

There's a lot more going on in this passage--we can't take what Elijah says necessarily at face value; the theophany in vv. 10-14 is complex, and I have a lot of questions about Elisha's "annointing" in vv. 19-21. But I can't help but be struck by God's utter realism about the state of his people's hearts--which goes deeper than Elijah's petulant criticisms--and the simultaneous contrast between Elijah's fatalism and Yahweh's deeper strategy for purifying them.