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Online Summer Bible Study, 2004
Week 8 (July 25-31): Isaiah 21-39

The discussion for the first few weeks of the summer program was nothing short of phenomenal, though even there only a handful of folks were posting messages. Thanks Mark for taking this on!

Then things died down almost to a grinding halt.

As a lay person, I know for myself I only have limited time for such discussions, which I'm sure is the case for others. While I have kept up with much of the reading, I can't say that I've done so with depth and I'm no position to write anything substantive about what I have read recently.

Though the summer's only half over, perhaps some preliminary assessment is merited.

I think a formal agenda is viable. Yet, my sense is that it needs to be done in smaller doses --perhaps one or two books of the Bible at most or some other agreed-upon reading for perhaps a month tops, at least for the time being. As I see it, one of the beauties of theotalk is its improvisational nature. So, while it may be profitable to continue with formal studies at some level, perhaps those should only be occasionally interspersed to encourage the flourishing the more "spontaneous" messages as we had with that spunky alien, luvable, huggable Al.

Obviously, I am only expressing my opinion and would appreciate assessments from others.

George Demetrion

Hello all,

Starting with George's comments:

"Yet, my sense is that it needs to be done in smaller doses --perhaps one or two books of the Bible at most or some other agreed-upon reading for perhaps a month tops, at least for the time being."

This issue was raised at the beginning of the summer, and inertia seemed to be the main force that kept the schedule as it was. Now that we're halfway through it, I personally am going to finish it, for personal and professional reasons. But as I have tried to emphasize, this isn't a class or an accountability group or anything where people should feel any sense of obligation.

If others wish to set aside the schedule entirely, or modify it, or pick and choose which pieces they are drawn to, I sincerely hope they will. For example, it could be that Genesis and Exodus are still holding people's attention, though we've "officially" moved on--if so, talk about Genesis or Exodus!

"So, while it may be profitable to continue with formal studies at some level, perhaps those should only be occasionally interspersed to encourage the flourishing the more 'spontaneous' messages"

I should hope that nobody has felt they couldn't raise whatever topics they wanted to. The Bible study was supposed to be *on* TheoTalk for sake of convenience and audience; it was not meant to redefine the purpose and content *of* TheoTalk.

OK, Isaiah. This week I am going to move away from the scholarly sorts of resources I have been using. An in-depth Christian study of Isaiah seems to involve studying a microcosm of Christianity as a whole, which is beyond both my abilities and the scope of this discussion. So instead, I am going to focus on Isaiah as a prophet--that is, on the book of Isaiah as containing a prophetic message that is highly relevant today. The resource I will be relying on and quoting from is "Isaiah: Spirit of Courage, Gift of Tears" by Daniel Berrigan (Fortress Press, c1996).

Isaiah addresses Israel during a time of war--impending war, ongoing war, and even retrospective war (given the historical facts of the book's composition). The question he asks is: what is the faithful response to a warring world? Isaiah 22:12-14 (NRSV) begins the answer:

In that day the Lord GOD of hosts called to weeping and mourning, to baldness and putting on sackcloth; but instead there was joy and festivity...
"Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die"...
Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die.

Berrigan comments: "A profound emotional schizophrenia afflicts the nation...A military spirit has set them, people and leaders alike, off kilter. National calamity is in the offing; everyone turns a blind eye. But the deeper, obscene, ultimately sorrowful meaning of the feverish frenzies is despair...Isaiah recognizes the despair. The vast majority do not...An alternative is at hand...(1) Laying down arms, we confess our powerlessness. (2) So doing, we seek, in tears and mourning, the providence of God." (pp. 57-58)

Questions for all of us to consider: Do we recognize the despair in our nation, not only in others, but in ourselves? In what ways can anti-war protests and political campaigning turn into distracting "feverish frenzies" of their own? How do we avoid getting trapped in powerlessness, instead of allowing the providence of God to fill us as conduits of God's power? How much do we actually allow ourselves to mourn--for the injured, the dead, the injurers and the killers alike--as though they were truly our own neighbors, our own family? How much do we allow ourselves to mourn for the sufferings our world inflicts on God?

Moving to Isaiah 25:1 (NRSV)...

O LORD, you are my God;
I will exalt you, I will praise your name;
for you have done wonderful things,
plans formed of old, faithful and sure.

Berrigan comments: "The design of reality is nobly conceived by Isaiah. It is a web unfinished in the hands of a Weaver. Slowly the pattern of moral beauty and fidelity emerges. The Weaver summons us. We are free to weave and be woven or not. The web exists without us, does not require us. It stands firm, inviolate, anchored, and free...Many choose to stand outside the design in the pitiful charade of the superhuman." (p. 62)

In that last sentence, Berrigan refers to those who explicitly or implicitly accept violence in the world as a way of (trying to) ensure their secure (and preferably prominent) places within the world. In what ways can we fall into the same moral trap when opposing them?

Finally, moving to Isaiah 34:1-2 (NRSV)...

Draw near, O nations, to hear;
O peoples, give heed!
Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;
the world, and all that comes from it.
For the LORD is enraged against all the nations,
and furious against all their hoards;
he has doomed them, has given them over for slaughter.

Berrigan comments: "The oracle is launched, we note, with utmost confusion of spirit, in face of seeming prosperity. The realm is flourishing, yet Isaiah is hardly fooled...Behavior is consequential; judgment is built into the moral fabric of the universe. The glance of the prophet pierces the flush of appearances; he sees the violence, greed, and moral disarray boiling away just beneath the surface of things...Every human life, every institution is a field of combat in which death and life, faith and faithfulness contend." (p. 91)

How does America's identification with biblical Israel make it hard for us to see ourselves as part of "the nations" Isaiah addresses? How does this lack of recognition make it hard for us to see the true shape of God's mercy behind God's judgment? How can we avoid the spiritual fatigue brought about by seeing "every human life, every institution" as a "field of combat," by having faith that God's plan for restoring creation "exists without us, does not require us...firm, inviolate, anchored, and free"?

Peace,
Mark Kille
John P. Webster Library

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