Day 5 Here’s what stands out. Beyond wanting to hear more about the prophet Hud or Salih, beyond the retelling of the story of Joseph, beyond any of the other brief mentions of other prophets — what I notice most about these stories is the primacy of God. In the Hebrew scriptures, God is present. […]
Day 4 The 8th Surah of the Qur’an goes into detail about how to split the spoils of war. Just as the endless battles could unnerve me in Hebrew Scriptures, I find it equally unnerving here. Then again, I’m reading this in a time and place removed from the original composition. I’ve said it often […]
Day 3 A comfort is developing here with the text. The shock of what was so different about it is becoming more of a rhythm. It’s not unsettling anymore. I’ll admit, I struggle with how much this book mentions hell. The Bible isn’t too concerned with eternal places of torment (I will fight you on […]
Day 2 A colleague pointed out that listening to Quranic can be quite beautiful and, well, I had forgotten. It is indeed beautiful and I am surprised at how many words I can make out. I remember sitting in mosques in Konya hearing the imam recite the verses in a beautiful cadence. So it is […]
Day 1 Let’s get this out of the way. The Qur’an is going to take some getting used to. It’s cadence, structure, flow, and focus are quite different from the Hebrew or Christian scriptures. And that’s okay! But just delving into these first few surahs and it’s very noticeable. This also means my reflections will […]
Back in the late spring of 2007, I did an intensive study of Sufism in Turkey. We spent time in Frankfurt before moving on to Istanbul. We wound our way down to Cappadocia, eventually ending up in Konya and the back again to Istanbul. It was one of those foundational experiences for me and Turkey […]
How does one sum up a 45 day marathon of reading? I’ve spent some time reviewing all of my notes on every single book in the Bible and am left with a lot of feelings that I’m still processing. I’m now part of a very small group of Americans who’ve read the Bible cover to […]
Day 45 The journey I began 45 days ago ends here, with the Revelation to St. John. I’ll have some closing thoughts tomorrow about the entire experience, but right now, I’m wrestling with a book that is incredibly “known” in our culture, but not understood. I’m not implying I’ll give anyone any understanding of this […]
Day 44 I learned about the Epistle of James (or Jacob) from a Marxist Pauline theorist. It was great. I love this Epistle. It’s something I can read over and over. As I noted below, I find something new in it every time (or perhaps rediscover). It is the perfect book to sum up the […]
Day 43 Entering the Pastoral letters, I feel a shift in tone. These are directed to specific recipients and are encouragement in their faith. Only Philemon is undisputedly written by Paul in this collection. Nonetheless, they are interesting to soak up and wrestle with. Timothy presents troubling verses on women. Do they matter if Paul […]