tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post2216739057520428582..comments2024-03-18T15:12:32.652-07:00Comments on Left Behind and Loving It: Ethical Hermeneutics and Hermeneutical EthicsD. Mark Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12016377712982292924noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-36407502764080543712021-08-30T07:12:54.609-07:002021-08-30T07:12:54.609-07:00Thanks. Your point is well taken. I was not using ...Thanks. Your point is well taken. I was not using the language of lynching as much as the more medieval language of burning at the stake, but even so it is a cruel and barbaric matter and I'll change it.<br />MDD. Mark Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12016377712982292924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-88673391832086188852021-08-29T12:17:21.996-07:002021-08-29T12:17:21.996-07:00Rick, I like your koinonia interpretation of washi...Rick, I like your koinonia interpretation of washing hands! Could we explain masks and vaccines to Christians in those terms?CarynWhttps://carynw.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-9577924334579940872021-08-29T07:56:07.681-07:002021-08-29T07:56:07.681-07:00So we're currently in a struggle about 'cl...So we're currently in a struggle about 'clean' and 'unclean' over vaccines and masks. ISTM that it can lend itself to either a concern for compassion (becoming vaccinated as an act of charity) or sense of coercion (get vaccinated or get fired). FWIW I'm ready to fire folk who refuse vaccination without a valid medical or religious reason - they still need to mask and social distance. But it does bring home 'unclean' and 'clean' to me in a different way.Bill Schlesingerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14304598437917344802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-47948271583478582202021-08-28T16:46:31.799-07:002021-08-28T16:46:31.799-07:00For some reason this post did not capture my name ...For some reason this post did not capture my name and that was not my intention--MarkAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17855059291041183151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-83474536332324149482021-08-28T16:45:49.051-07:002021-08-28T16:45:49.051-07:00I really appreciate your commentary which I look a...I really appreciate your commentary which I look at weekly when teaching from the Gospel selection of the lectionary. And I agree with the hermeneutical approach in your introduction. But I would offer a word of caution in regard to your words in red. In the history of race "relations" from Reconstruction through Jim Crow, there were over 4500 documented instances of lynching, most of which involved the murder, mutilation and burning of black Americans, most of whom were Christians and none of whom were expressing heretical exegesis of Mark. Additionally, many of the early church fathers were indeed burned at the stake for standing up for much more than your profession on these pages. I would encourage you to rethink your somewhat glib use of the English language, especially when you strive for precision on the remainder of the post.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17855059291041183151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-80859199603717018902021-08-28T08:18:16.432-07:002021-08-28T08:18:16.432-07:00Thanks Rick and Scott. BTW, I have expanded my com...Thanks Rick and Scott. BTW, I have expanded my comments to cover all of vv.1-23 now, including the parts that the lectionary omits. FYI.<br />MDD. Mark Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12016377712982292924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-6871106048640754052021-08-28T05:50:41.461-07:002021-08-28T05:50:41.461-07:00You have once again teased the threads well! Two p...You have once again teased the threads well! Two points come to mind. First, I think the gospel of Mark is a subtle Galilean polemic against the (self) established group in Jerusalem. Every time the listed disciples (those in Jerusalem) are mentioned, it makes clear that they don't get Jesus. Second, I love how you have opened up the last section with the explanation of "dialog". I think to a modern person, we get concerned about our thoughts and how we think we must control them, that we are our thoughts. Yet no one can point where they come from nor can we turn them on or off nor direct them. They just flow on and on. And it seems that Jesus is saying that when you start dialoging with them, then the trouble starts. I like that shaded nuance. Cheers.scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09866325571917056232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-3551761564507067332021-08-25T23:15:51.101-07:002021-08-25T23:15:51.101-07:00A very interesting and important passage! Can I su...A very interesting and important passage! Can I suggest that eating with 'common hands' is best understood literally? Knives and forks were not used - people ate with their hands and dipped into bowls and so shared the food with 'common hands'. Hands were washed, then, not like my mum would tell me to wash my hands before a meal, but as a ritual expression of koinonia. By that logic, I guess that eating as a koinonia (the main point of all eating) with koinais hands ritually created another kind of koinonia - the koinonia Jesus understood as he ate with 'common' hands (did he?). And as he died with 'common' law-breakers. Were these 'some' of Jesus' disciples doing something more than just breaking with the tradition of the elders?Rick Strelannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-59255901824600616192021-08-25T18:53:56.388-07:002021-08-25T18:53:56.388-07:00Great and so helpful for preaching. This passage r...Great and so helpful for preaching. This passage resonates so well in a time of COVID doesn't it?<br />I so much appreaciate what you doevery week and your ability to tell it like it is. Thanks, so much. Robertaberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06181426567163649752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-71136912946704823792018-09-02T08:19:48.809-07:002018-09-02T08:19:48.809-07:00Sin of pride in Presbyterian tradition: Total depr...Sin of pride in Presbyterian tradition: Total depravity. We KNOW we're all screwed up! So deal with it!Bill Schlesingerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14304598437917344802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-54132153168144496472018-09-02T05:47:38.076-07:002018-09-02T05:47:38.076-07:00Thanks, Julie. Preach well! Thanks, Julie. Preach well! D. Mark Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12016377712982292924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-90163942112057913572018-09-01T18:44:03.425-07:002018-09-01T18:44:03.425-07:00Once again, a seed for a sermon has been found/ or...Once again, a seed for a sermon has been found/ or fostered in your blog. Thank you for your weekly posts and effort. I really appreciate the unvarnished manner of laying out the troubling areas. Julie Kellyhttp://mistressofdivinity.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-84441729504839293062015-08-27T08:32:29.618-07:002015-08-27T08:32:29.618-07:00I was just personally struck after 5 weeks of Lect...I was just personally struck after 5 weeks of Lectionary readings in John with Jesus' claim to be the Bread of Life and telling folks they must eat his flesh to now read in Mark about folks being criticized as too 'defiled' to eat bread. It points out to me once again the big difference in Jesus' interpretation of scripture as well as provoking thought and questions about whether what we put in us cannot make us unclean, it comes from within. Can what we put in us (Christ-likeness) change us from the inside out? I'd say yes. He offers his very essence of self to all of us before we 'purify' ourselves. Very interesting how the gospels provide tension this way. Or maybe it's just my brain going off on a tangent again.Marianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02633443413784531242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-38231131395847865662015-08-27T08:32:16.343-07:002015-08-27T08:32:16.343-07:00I was just personally struck after 5 weeks of Lect...I was just personally struck after 5 weeks of Lectionary readings in John with Jesus' claim to be the Bread of Life and telling folks they must eat his flesh to now read in Mark about folks being criticized as too 'defiled' to eat bread. It points out to me once again the big difference in Jesus' interpretation of scripture as well as provoking thought and questions about whether what we put in us cannot make us unclean, it comes from within. Can what we put in us (Christ-likeness) change us from the inside out? I'd say yes. He offers his very essence of self to all of us before we 'purify' ourselves. Very interesting how the gospels provide tension this way. Or maybe it's just my brain going off on a tangent again.Marianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02633443413784531242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-3768988133262137022012-08-30T08:25:45.615-07:002012-08-30T08:25:45.615-07:00Thanks, Mark.
I really do appreciate your insight...Thanks, Mark.<br /><br />I really do appreciate your insights... guess I'll have to go back to by commentary by Ben Witherington on Acts... oh well...blairhughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01296619275162368284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-35599520401197215842012-08-30T08:14:35.168-07:002012-08-30T08:14:35.168-07:00Tom, I've been focusing solely on the Gospel l...Tom, I've been focusing solely on the Gospel lessons each week. (It's been a joy, but also a challenge, since I've been off lectionary all summer. But, I like the discipline of exegeting the lectionary gospel reading, so I've kept at it). To be honest, I've not looked much beyond the gospel readings at all this summer. Sorry.Marknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-67677860224782696012012-08-29T17:18:05.651-07:002012-08-29T17:18:05.651-07:00Hey Mark-- just wondering if you've covered Ac...Hey Mark-- just wondering if you've covered Acts already.. Did I miss it?-- and if so-- when did you do it?<br /><br />Wondering...<br /><br />Thanks!<br /><br />Tom Blair<br />Baltimoreblairhughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01296619275162368284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-29257098133594078772012-08-28T19:21:45.787-07:002012-08-28T19:21:45.787-07:00Jon,
I love the church, warts and all. What is co...Jon, <br />I love the church, warts and all. What is comforting to me in reading the gospels is that all of our worst tendencies as the church have been present all along. We're just the latest incarnation of the same thing. <br />Thanks for your comments, <br />Marknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-75597633526221995852012-08-28T11:59:26.841-07:002012-08-28T11:59:26.841-07:00Dang. I meant to say, "perhaps like me, YOU ...Dang. I meant to say, "perhaps like me, YOU can't seem to tear yourself away...."<br /><br />apologies.<br />JonJonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01547257938405107157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-20291827185888809572012-08-28T11:57:56.193-07:002012-08-28T11:57:56.193-07:00I love your material. Even more, I resonate with ...I love your material. Even more, I resonate with what I perceive to be a long and sometimes painful history with the Church. But, again, perhaps like me, I can't seem to tear myself away. Prisoner of hope stuff. <br /><br />Anyway, thanks for what you are doing.<br />JonJonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01547257938405107157noreply@blogger.com