Some Notes on Proverbs

Overview:  Solomon — the king with great wisdom who also wrote two other Wisdom books, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs — is the principal author.  Indeed, he wrote every chapter of Proverbs except the last two, which were written by Ajur and Lemuel, respectively. I’ll note at the outset that Psalms and Proverbs are … [Read more…]

Some Notes on Job

Overview:  Here’s a bare-bones outline of the book:  It begins with a quick sketch of Job and his idyllic life as a good and very blessed man, with a big happy family and great wealth.  In the next scene, God is meeting with his angels, and God brings up to Satan (!) the subject of … [Read more…]

Some Notes on Ecclesiastes

Three of the Wisdom books — Ecclesiastes, Job, and Psalms — share a common theme:  It’s permissible, even expected, that we should kvetch to God about the hardships we face, but this complaining and questioning should be accompanied by faith and trust and a recognition that God knows what He is doing, so that the … [Read more…]

G.K. Chesterton, “Manalive”

I read this 1912 novel after reading Michael Dirda’s somewhat tardy but glowing review of it 106 years later in the March 29 Washington Post (“G.K. Chesterton, our guardian angel of foolery and faith”).  Dirda noted that April Fool’s Day and Easter fell on the same day this year, making it appropriate to write about Chesterton, … [Read more…]

Reading the Gospels

Happy Easter!  He is risen! Since I’m writing something about every other book of the New Testament, it would be odd to skip the Gospels.  On the other hand, one always worries that it is presumptuous at best to try to boil down God’s word, and that is especially so with the Gospels.  What’s more, … [Read more…]