The Bible as Literature

It gets so old—your universal declarations, your philosophies, your ideologies, your heightened sensibilities, your values, your propaganda, your Kool-Aid. Your gods. Hearing Fr. Paul teach, it hit me like a ton of your rubble.When people hear the words of the biblical Prophet, they can’t help but respond by preaching their civilization.It’s an obvious, if not childlike, atte

Every immigrant, every minority, and every colonized person living under a human boot faces the same dilemma: how to live without imitating or accepting the ways of the human gods that impose their glory.“We have,” a wise poet once said, “on this earth what makes life worth living.”Scripture, Fr. Paul has explained many times, forged a path for living in the ancient world b

There is nothing like a cup of Turkish Coffee. That’s not an opinion. It’s an observation of fact. The local Starbucks does not serve Turkish Coffee.That’s why I never buy Starbucks for Fr. Paul before his lectures. Why would I? Why would anyone who cares about anything important, meaning Scripture, do something so foolish? I am pretty sure there is a “Stars and Bucks” so

The Bible, Fr. Paul explains, is a holy joke. That’s a big relief. Even hopeful. Looking around, I see that the current state of affairs is an unholy joke.Truly, if the Scriptural God is not laughing at us, mocking us, and ultimately—as Fr. Paul explains—entrapping us, he is not God. He can’t be. What kind of god, what monster, would be happy with us? I mean, seriously, peo

Code Pink! Code Pink!People are running around with blinders on! It appears they’ve been reading English translations of the Septuagint!Half keep referring to something called the Books of the Kingdoms, which do not appear in the Bible; the other half are enamored with some goofy Greek nonsense called “philosophical questioning.” One of them keeps eating ice cream in a stupor

Scripture unmasks your illusions. Religion, family, friends, ideas, institutions, nations, individuals, “isms” of every school—all your human ideals and beliefs are a lie. Unfortunately, you can’t sleep around with your lies and remain faithful to the Master. You do, in fact, have to make a choice. Note my use of the word “fact.” So, please, step in front of the bus or

This week, a few listeners reached out to wish me well on my sabbatical or to ask what I plan to do with my free time. First, please be assured that I will not be eating ice cream. Second, as my oldest Palestinian cousin Tina said while doing manual labor at St. Elizabeth, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” In her honor, let’s make good use of the time because the days are defin

This week, Fr. Paul refers to the Apostle Paul’s letter to Timothy, noting a disciple’s duty to take every single opportunity at every moment to channel the content of Scripture at every turn, in time and out of time, using every chance afforded to share what you received, not from the teacher, but directly from the text. In this vein, Fr. Paul reiterates a point from his most

“Scripture,” Fr. Paul wrote years ago, “is its own interpreter.”“The sermon,” he continued,“…is at best an invitation to hear and obey the text.”“An invitation card has no value whatsoever when it comes to the dinner itself; the guests are fed by the dinner, not by the invitation or its phrasing (Luke 14:16-24; Matthew 22:1-14).”This study of the Gospel of Luk

This week, Fr. Paul notes the function of the two versions of the Ten Commandments in Exodus and Numbers and the futility of the so-called “Deuteronomic Reform.” (Episode 313) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★