Deus Misereatur

  Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope Esau McCaulley IVP Academic www.ivpress.com ISBN: 978-0-8308-5486-8; September 2020; $20.00   On occasion I have had the pleasure of overhearing my adult children talking to others without their knowing I was around. It’s quite a humbling experience, and many times, encouraging to hear them owning the faith for themselves. Their interactions with the other person were not meant for my ears necessarily, which is what makes it even more meaningful. That’s very much the case with a new 208-page softback, “Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope”. Esau McCaulley, assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College, priest in the Anglican Church in North America, contributing opinion writer for  The New York Times , and host of  The Disrupters  podcast, is writing for a black audience that may be skeptical of Christianity and doubtfu...

  Exodus Old and New: A Biblical Theology of Redemption L. Michael Morales IVP Academic www.ivpress.com ISBN:  978-0-8308-5539-1; August 2020; $22.00   It doesn’t take long while out hiking in the hinterlands. As one treks through shrubs and woodlands, ascending and descending along dusty trails or unmarked ways, there begins to grow a sense of somewhereness. I am presently here, trudging and traipsing, dirty and damp, heading to an end point, but I belong somewhere else; somewhere that is beautiful, somewhere that is tranquil and restful, somewhere subtly or surprisingly refreshing.   L. Michael Morales, professor of biblical studies at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Taylors, South Carolina, and previous provost and professor of Old Testament at Reformation Bible College in Sanford, Florida, has recently penned a scenic script that taps into this somewhereness. It is a 224-page softback that takes up exile and exodus in Scripture, and de...

  Mighty God, Loving Father, who sent your Son, Jesus Christ to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified (Isaiah 61:2-3); we lift up our hearts and hands and voices to give you praise, to thank you, and to rejoice in your goodness! O Lord, hear our prayer.   Creator and Sustainer, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; we pray for the nations and peoples of the world, we pray for our own country, we pray for our friends, foes and family with the Psalmist in Psalm 146: please execute justice for the oppressed (…); give food to the hungry (…); set the prisoners free, specifically those who are innoc...

  O our God and Father, who is making the first last and the last first, and who has made little children the measure of your kingdom, we pray for your church here and worldwide, including (…). Please give us that wisdom from above which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere (James 3:17). As we operate, deliberate, expostulate, and at times, remonstrate, may it not be as enemies and adversaries, but as fellow human beings made in your image, made to have unending fellowship with you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit. May we grasp right from wrong and chose that which is right, for ourselves, our families, and our people. May partiality and prejudice be put far from us, and integrity and equality gain the upper hand. Lord, as we pray for our local, State and National leaders, we affirm with the Sage in Proverbs that the wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deceiving (Proverbs 14:8...