A Spirituality blog from our Community

Posts tagged ‘Old Testament’

π Canon

I didn’t make this myself, although I wish I did.

From Peter Hardy, Chaplaincy Assistant:

After our Bible For Bluffers session on the Biblical Canon I was wondering to myself what happens if you skim through the Bible, focusing on verses corresponding to pi (that is, 3.14)? What would the Bible be like if we were limited to these passages? (more…)

Jonah

Well it’s Jonah. A Biblical story about the titular prophet.  In our group we performed it as a pantomime, as a traditional British end to the year (it also marked the end of our look at the Old Testament).

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The Monarchy, Part 2: Negatives

David by Pedro Berruguete

This was a session that we didn’t have time to do this year (it is so long as to be split into two parts) so we have no answers to the questions here but as the Kings are an essential part of the biblical story it still makes an interesting exercise.  (more…)

The Monarchy, Part 1: Positives

Michelangelo's David

This was a session that we didn’t have time to do this year (it is so long as to be split into two parts) so we have no answers to the questions here but as the Kings are an essential part of the biblical story it still makes an interesting exercise. (more…)

The Song of Songs

Suggestive art by Marc Chagall

Like Job and the Psalms this small book, also called ‘The Song of Solomon‘, is an example of biblical wisdom literature. It is also of a more specific genre, an epithalalium- a wedding song common in the neighbouring Egyptian and Babylonian cultures. You could get a quite a shock if you read it with no introduction as, as the image above implies, it is rather sexual. (more…)

Psalms and Praying with Scripture

Depiction of Gregorian Chant from an illuminated manuscript

We took our starting point this time from the Psalter, the book of Psalms in the middle of the Old Testament. But through exploring its relevance to Christians we learned a method we can use today for praying using Scripture in general. (more…)

Prophesy

Not all prophesies are this exciting.

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Prophesy [Full Discussion]

Despite being but a small sea creature, the late Paul the octopus stunned football fans by correctly predicting the outcome of every match of the World Cup held in Germany.

Prophets are figures that we don’t see around today although they figure prominently in the Bible, particularly later in the Old Testament with the books collectively known as the Major Prophets and Minor Prophets. In previous sessions we saw how the story of Hebrew prophesy began much earlier on with Abraham, and it reached a kind of pinnacle with Moses– but what exactly is a ‘prophet’? (more…)

Cruelty in the Bible [Full Discussion]

He (God) vanquished those cities and all the inhabitants of the valley, and everything that grew on the ground. (Genesis 19:25)

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Cruelty in the Bible

He (David) brought their foreskins and presented them before the king (Saul) in full number. (1 Samuel 18:27)

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