Soul School “lessons” are released each Wednesday (aka “Hump Day” aka Midweek).
• On FRIDAYS I feature guests and on a variety of topics!
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HOW FUNDING WORKS: Spark My Muse takes me 25-30 hours per week and costs money out-of-pocket each month to create, produce, and host online. Listeners, like you, give in support to defray the cost so the show can stay alive and well.Thank you for giving today.
Today is the second in a short series (and the 1st for Ecclesiastes) that explores ancient wisdom text concerning finding the meaning of life and gaining understanding about some of the the most common and nagging questions the plague humans across the ages.
Episodes are released each Wednesday (aka “Hump Day” aka Midweek).
Have you ever had a “pang of awesome” in your chest when you did a good thing? That’s the feeling you get when you help here.
HOW FUNDING WORKS: Spark My Muse takes me 25-30 hours per week and costs money out-of-pocket each month to create, produce, and host online. Listeners, like you, give in support to defray the cost so the show can stay alive and well.Thank you for giving today.
For the ancients, the heart was not the seat of emotions (like we tend to see it now).
The heart was seen like we might see the mind today. Or a combination of the mind, heart, and will–the core of a person. For the ancients, the emotions resided in the bowels.
The language of the wisdom literature and choosing the right path.
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Genesis and Science speak two different languages.
Medieval Jewish readings of the Genesis story Adam reflects and parallel the story of Israel and paradise land.
Adam as a symbol, theme, or pattern. Be aware of literary structure.
Bible written as thoughtful theology not history (or science). Written as the story of Israel that show their ideology. (and identity)
MIN 13
[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]Literalism is a modernist reading strategy [of the Bible].[/ictt-tweet-inline]
(To share this nifty quote above on TWITTER, it takes 4 seconds. Just click the blue bird icon. And keep your eyeballs open for other easy-to-tweet quotes throughout these show notes.)
Different books of the people (in different eras) adjust and revise other parts of scripture.
[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]I find that the most conservative way of reading the Bible is the most unbiblical.[/ictt-tweet-inline]
MIN 15
Pete, what do you mean by “GOD”? (and how he encounters that in his newest book.)
Using the word “God” is almost lazy.
MIN 19:30
[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]There is no one portrayal of God in the Bible.[/ictt-tweet-inline]
It changes depending on the culture, theology, time, circumstances, and author or authors writing the book. The New Testament comes from the Old Testament trajectory.
MIN 22:00
[In Paul’s letters] Paul [is] trying to make sense of Jesus when it’s a radical departure from Jewish thought.
[The bible is] [T]he development of how humans think about God. The tribal God is warlike [is one example].
[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]The “biblical God” is the God we see through our own lens.[/ictt-tweet-inline]
MIN 25:00
God in our image.
[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]“It’s not just that we use psychology, we ARE psychology.”[/ictt-tweet-inline]
[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]“All theology is psychology and sociology, [because] we are people who live in communities and people with histories.”[/ictt-tweet-inline]
[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]“God allows [God’s] children to tell [God’s] story from where they are from their perspective.”[/ictt-tweet-inline]
Hold with an open fist.
MIN 28:30
The mystery of the Incarnation and how we see the world.
[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]“Jesus is the model and Savior and messy and a 1st century Jewish man.”[/ictt-tweet-inline]
What’s the divine part of Christology?
MIN 32:00
How has Pete’s personal concepts of God have evolved?
My experience of God is not irrelevant and not relegated to just the academic and the life of the modernist mind.
(Eastern) Orthodox “God as Being” (rather than a Being)
When you think of God what do you think of?
God is in you and without God there is nothing. And God is all around you. (New ideas for Pete).
Welcome to SOUL SCHOOL – a bit of nourishment for your inner world.
A new one is released each Wednesday.
When I was little, I pictured God as an old white man with a white beard, just like I had seen in paintings. He was mostly scary. He could be very loving and kind, but he also had a bad temper and would deal out very harsh punishments (just like my dad did, strangely enough. Well, it’s not strange at all, really.) Children have a hard time picturing the abstract, so pictures and stories can help, but they only take us so far. Spiritual growth and personal growth demand more.
Today, I’ll talk about moving beyond how we tend, even as adults, to personify God much like children do with rabbits in storybooks.Please pass along the episode to someone else and chat about it with your friends. Or contact me with your thoughts, if you’d like.
(Also enjoy the music of my people from my father’s side of the family – Puerto Rico! I put more music in than I normally do.)
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Today, I’m featuring a returning guest, my friend, Ray Hollenbach: teacher, blogger, writer, former pastor, and now a facilitator of the Deeper Seminars. Ray trains leaders and any one interested in deepening their spiritual maturity and walk of faith in the Fruit of the Spirit in small group settings so lasting transformation is likely.
Included in the show notes are FREE downloads of Ray’s exercises for you (scroll to the bottom to get those). We hope you enjoy them. Be sure to get his powerful book Deeper Grace.
If you appreciate what you hear today, if you enjoy it or benefit from it at all, please remember that just a few dollars from you helps a lot.
