Jacqueline Vayntrub and Christian Wiman discuss joy, salvation history, and chicken guts in Psalm 66:1-12. The text is appointed for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 23, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
The Guts of a Chicken (Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost)
Voiceover Voice:
And the fear of the Lord, we understand in the context of wisdom literature as the acknowledgment of awesomeness.
Helena Martin:
Welcome back to Chapter, Verse, and Season: a lectionary podcast from Yale Bible Study.
And welcome to episode number 50! If you can hear my words (or if you’re reading the transcript), please know how grateful we are that you’re here. Whether you’ve been here from the beginning or this is your first episode, whether you listen every single week or just check in from time to time—thank you for listening.
We’re coming to the end of Year C, our first lectionary year, and we’ll start again with Year A when we get to Advent. I know that sounds like a long way away, but it will be here before we know it.
This episode, we have Jacqueline Vayntrub, Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible, and Christian Wiman, Professor of the Practice of Religion and Literature.
They’re discussing Psalm 66:1-12, which is appointed for Track 1 of the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 23, in Year C. Here’s the text.
[Psalm 66:1-12]
Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
sing the glory of his name;
give to him glorious praise.
Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you.
All the earth worships you;
they sing praises to you,
sing praises to your name.” Selah
Come and see what God has done:
he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.
He turned the sea into dry land;
they passed through the river on foot.
There we rejoiced in him,
who rules by his might forever,
whose eyes keep watch on the nations—
let the rebellious not exalt themselves. Selah
Bless our God, O peoples;
let the sound of his praise be heard,
who has kept us among the living
and has not let our feet slip.
For you, O God, have tested us;
you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net;
you laid burdens on our backs;
you let people ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.
Christian Wiman:
This is a wonderful passage about making a joyful noise unto God. As poet Anna Kamieńska says about joy, that it’s an actual duty that we have, to feel joy in existence. Sometimes you get contemporary poets who resist that, modern and contemporary poets: there’s a notion in modernism that “light writes white.” So if everything in your life is light, then you’re going to end up with a blank page. You need some kind of friction there and so joy—
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
Is that like the hotel room painting of poetry?
Christian Wiman:
Yeah, that’s right. [Chuckles] Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So, you get different tones in a lot of contemporary poets. One of my favorites though is Kay Ryan, a wonderful, witty, intellectual poet, who wrote something about God’s grandeur in a kind of underhanded way. And it’s called “Blandeur.”
If it please God,
let less happen.
Even out Earth’s
rondure, flatten
Eiger, blanden
the Grand Canyon.
Make valleys
slightly higher,
widen fissures
to arable land,
remand your terrible glaciers
and silence
their calving,
halving or doubling
all geographical features
toward the mean.
Unlean against our hearts.
Withdraw your grandeur
from these parts. [Kay Ryan, “Blandeur”]
The effect of that is, in minimizing or almost mocking the notion that God could have grandeur, she calls it back into existence. She makes you realize the grandeur that is there, that is too much to be borne. And it’s a poem that actually comes out of Hopkins’ “God’s Grandeur”, where the beauty of the earth causes him to feel the presence of the Lord. Kay Ryan’s very much not a believing person. But she’s very much in that tradition.
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
There’s one line that I just had to write down, and I might frame it somewhere, where she says, “Unlean against our hearts.”
Christian Wiman:
Yeah.
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
I love that because it’s like that feeling, you know: the Hebrew text often talks about the fear of the Lord, and the fear of the Lord, we understand in the context of wisdom literature as the acknowledgement of awesomeness, feeling that you would get from seeing a picture of the universe. And how small the earth is, or just the galaxy.
Christian Wiman:
Right, right.
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
Or just seeing Earth from space. And that same sort of awesomeness, which is the same feeling that you get from seeing a newborn child, and it’s that feeling of an overwhelming desire to remain in the present while knowing that the present is always fading away. And that’s the leaning on our hearts, like, the squeezing all of our sense of awe and amazingness and terror, at life and the world.
Christian Wiman:
It’s too much, sometimes.
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
Too much, right? And so I love that, “unlean against our hearts.” The power of living is like feeling like something’s leaning on your heart.
Christian Wiman:
Yeah.
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
I love that.
Christian Wiman:
Lorine Niedecker has a poem–she’s a poet from Wisconsin–she has a poem about… the whole poem is (I’m not going to quite get it right), but it’s the constant, soapsy sudsy love in the laundry-room mat. After all, ecstasy can’t be constant. That’s the whole poem. After all, ecstasy can’t be constant.
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
[Laughing] Oh, I love that!
Christian Wiman:
Yeah!
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
Because it’s like that in our own, you know, modern experience, but it’s also in ancient texts too, that, you know, that we must match our sense of, you know, ecstasy and the awesome, with the relentlessness of the mundane. And also, the decay of the body, which is very slow.
Christian Wiman:
Yeah, definitely. I love what you said about comparing the overwhelming feeling of, say, seeing the university, even reading about it. (I read a lot of these books and also just Physics and astrophysics in constant awe), but also comparing that to a newborn, because just yesterday, actually, our neighbors brought home a newborn and I was in the yard (and in fact it’s Adam Eitel. He’s our neighbor. He also teaches at Yale Divinity School) and I was just overwhelmed all of a sudden, and I wasn’t expecting anything, but it was exactly that. It was suddenly just existence taking you by the throat.
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
Yeah.
Christian Wiman:
In the face of that child.
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
And what’s interesting about Psalm 66 is the third part of the poem is about how history doesn’t end with divine miracles. Because the first part of the poem is like God’s glory and Name, which is like basically the two sensory experiences of theophany, of God’s manifestation to humankind. Sight, right? That’s the glory. His bodily presence, his weightiness and his embodied manifestation in the sanctuary, and his Name, which is, for anyone who recalls the episode of the burning Bush in Exodus 3, where God reveals his name to Moses: it’s the auditory experience of revelation.
So that’s the first part. And then the second part is the miracle of being released from bondage. And then the third part is how history doesn’t end just with divine miracles. It’s almost about the monotony, right? Or the relentlessness of the mundane, even in the light of miracles and awesomeness. I’m remembering seeing my own newborn. It’s such a miracle and an amazing, powerful feeling. And then I had to clean a dirty diaper.
Christian Wiman:
Oh yeah. And more than that! And then it’s, “thou layest affliction upon our loins.” That’s a little bit later. [Both laugh]
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
That’s right, that’s right! right. Yes. It’s like, “you brought us into the net” (this is verse 11), “You laid weights on our groins.”
Christian Wiman:
Oh, is that the actual thing?! I’m glad I have you here. That’s good.
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
Right? I mean, I don’t know if this is like an indication of, maybe, a loss of fertility among the Israelites… I mean, I think this conclusion is kind of about the dark side of salvation history, that foreign enemies are being used as God’s instruments, for Israel’s constant refinement, to be made better, but Israel suffered through this process.
Christian Wiman:
Yeah.
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
And verse 11 and verse 12 are like the two sides of the coin of living. There’s the relentlessness, the pain, the suffering, and even the monotony of living,
Christian Wiman:
Yeah.
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
It really plods by. And then the other flip side of it is the abundance, the wondrousness of creation.
Christian Wiman:
Yeah. There’s that Yehuda Amichai poem where he’s like–it’s called “God’s Hand in the World,” and I can’t quote it–but it’s God’s hand in the world, like my mother’s hand in the guts of a chicken. [Both laugh]
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
[Laughing] That’s amazing.
Christian Wiman:
Yeah. And he goes off from that and compares it. So that’s an image of caretaking. The mother is making food and everything, but of course, it’s the guts of the chicken and there’s all kinds of–
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
Say that line again from the poem, in the grocery store? Not everything can be ecstasy?
Christian Wiman:
Oh! “After all, ecstasy can’t be constant.”
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
Right. Ecstasy can’t be constant.
Christian Wiman:
Yeah, ecstasy can’t be constant. I wanted to ask you, how does the Hebrew read in verse 12? Because I’ve got, “Thou has caused me to ride over our heads.” We probably should have just gotten the same text. “We went through fire and through water, but thou brought us out onto, into a wealthy place.” Is it wealthy? No…
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
I’m just looking at The Hebrew here. “Abundance.”
Christian Wiman:
Abundance. That’s a lot better, isn’t it?
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
There’s a textual note here. So, I’m not going to get into the guts of this, as it were, but could be “a spacious place.” And so it could be “abundance” or it could be, like, actual vastness of space. So, “you brought us out into a spacious place.” That’s one sort of reading that you could have.
Christian Wiman:
Yeah, it works a lot better. It works a lot better with the words of Jesus later, too. He says, “I’ve come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” The word “abundant” is a lot more powerful than “wealthy.”
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
Yeah, well, but abundance and wealth and even blessing are inseparable as concepts. “Wealth” is about receiving divine favor. So one has wealth; one has been favored by God, and in some contexts, presumably, because they’ve done so well for themselves. That’s why discussions later will talk about, “Well, how can someone actually inherit and be able to inherit, if wealth is a mark of being favorable in God’s eyes.”
Christian Wiman:
Hmm. So that’s always true, in the Hebrew Scriptures? That wealth is a sign of the favor of God?
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
Well, I mean, there are points at which prophets will critique the abuse of wealth.
Christian Wiman:
Yeah.
Jacqueline Vayntrub:
Certainly there’s a tension. There’s a tension between the idea that wealth is a mark of divine favor, and the idea that one may not necessarily be deserving of their wealth. The same tension exists also with respect to tragedy, that when tragedy strikes–this is what Job is about, really–when tragedy strikes, do they deserve it?
Helena Martin:
Thanks again for listening. And thank you, Professors Vayntrub and Wiman, for being part of our fiftieth episode this week.
Remember to follow us on Twitter: @BibleYale, and check out our website for more resources: that YaleBibleStudy.org.
Chapter, Verse, and Season is a production of the Center for Continuing Education at Yale Divinity School. It’s produced by: Creator and Managing Editor, Joel Baden; Production Manager, Kelly Morrissey; Associate Producer, Aidan Stoddart; and I’m your Host and Executive Producer, Helena Martin. Our theme music is by Calvin Linderman.
We’ll be back with another conversation from Chapter, Verse, and Season.
Book of the Bible:
Psalms
Subjects:
Psalms
Guests
Text
New Revised Standard Version Bible
Copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Credits
Host and Executive Producer: Helena Martin
Production Manager: Kelly Morrissey
Creator and Managing Editor: Joel Baden
Assistant Producer: Aidan Stoddart
Music: Calvin Linderman
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Bill Goettler and Joanne Jennings discuss hard truths and be in-dwelled by Christ in Romans 6:12–23. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 8), in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss Jesus’ scarier proclamations in Matthew 10:24-39. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 7), in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Sarah Drummond discuss hospitality, laughter, and the complexity of Sarah as a character in Genesis 18:1-15. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 6), in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Harold Attridge and John Hare discuss faith, doubt, shame, and mystic union in Romans 4:13-25. The text is appointed for the second Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 5), in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Justin Crisp and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss rest, reveling, and revelation in Genesis 1:1–2:4a The text is appointed for Trinity Sunday, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Awet Andemicael and Adam Eitel discuss diversity, reversal, and the power of the Spirit in Acts 2:1-21 and John 20:19-23. The text is appointed for the Day of Pentecost in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Tisa Wenger discuss righteousness, liberation, and vulnerability in Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35. The text is appointed for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Almeda Wright and Kate Ott discuss suffering, meaning, and unjust power structures in 1 Peter 3:13-22. The text is appointed for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Mark Heim and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss prophecy, interfaith reading, and incarnation in John 14:1-14. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Jacqueline Vayntrub and Christian Wiman discuss paradox, poetry, and life beyond death in Psalm 23. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joanne Jennings and Bill Goettler discuss divine encounter and human conversation in Luke 24:13-35. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday of Easter, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Mark Heim and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss interfaith perspectives on the story of Easter in conversation with John 20:19-31. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday of Easter, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss power, peace and healing in Acts 10:34-43. The text is appointed for Easter Day, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
John Collins and Jennifer Herdt discuss the problem of suffering, the impact of loss, and the resilience of human nature in Job 14:1-14 and 1 Peter 4:1-8. The text is appointed for Holy Saturday, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Justin Crisp and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss Christology, glory, and exclusion in John 18:1–19:42. The text is appointed for Good Friday in the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Sarah Drummond discuss sacrificial practice, identity markers, and imagined history in Exodus 12:1-14. The text is appointed for Maundy Thursday in the Revised Common Lectionary.
Volker Leppin and Vasileios Marinis discuss crucifixion, suffering, obedience, and solidarity in Philippians 2:5-11. The text is appointed for the Liturgy of the Passion (Palm Sunday), in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Yejide Peters Pietersen and Bill Goettler discuss miracles, healing, and grief in John 11:1-45. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss the role of Joseph, the divine potential of dreams, and membership in the Holy Family in Matthew 1:18-25. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday in Lent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Tisa Wenger discuss life in the wilderness for the Israelites, being tested and testing God in Exodus 17:1-7. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday in Lent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Mark Heim and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss blessing, migration, and the inspiring legacy of Abraham across religious traditions in Genesis 12:1-4a. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday in Lent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss seduction, curiosity, craftiness, and misogyny in Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7. The text is appointed for the First Sunday in Lent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Tisa Wenger discuss leadership, inherited stories, and transfiguring moments in Exodus 24:12-18 and Matthew 17:1-9. The texts are appointed for Transfiguration Sunday, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Almeda Wright and Kate Ott discuss pedagogy, mixed metaphors, ageism, and spiritual growth in 1 Corinthians 3:1-9. The text is appointed for the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Volker Leppin and Vasileios Marinis discuss hypocrisy, reward systems, righteousness, and religious performance in Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12). The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Justin Crisp and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss blessedness, poverty, consolation, and the dangers of transactional theology in Matthew 5:1-12. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joanne Jennings and Bill Goettler discuss living with both faith and fear in Psalm 27:1, 4-9. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss the story of John the Baptist, a wild and perhaps uncertain character, in John 1:29-42. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss Messianism, prophetic gentleness, and hermeneutical approaches in Isaiah 42:1-9. The text is appointed for the First Sunday after the Epiphany, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Vasileios Marinis and Volker Leppin discuss human nature, sovereignty over creation, and preacherly responsibility with reference to Psalm 8. The text is appointed for the First Sunday after Christmas, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Yejide Peters Pietersen and Bill Goettler discuss the spirit of children, the multiplicity of interpretation, and pastoral responsibility at Christmas, with reference to Luke 2:1-14 (15-20). The text is appointed for Christmas Eve in the Revised Common Lectionary.
Mark Heim and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss Christian and Muslim interpretations of the Nativty of Jesus, with special reference to Matthew 1:18-25. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Judith Gundry and Adam Eitel discuss patience, endurance of suffering, and the challenges of family conflict in James 5:7-10. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday of Advent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss the imagined future of the glorious kingdom in Isaiah 11:1-10 and Romans 15:4-13. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday of Advent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
AndrewMcGowan and Ned Parker discuss the holiness of divine absence and the anticipation of things to come in Matthew 24:36-44. The text is appointed for the First Sunday of Advent in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Tisa Wenger discuss colonial narratives, indigenous theology, and the downsides of going to a “Promised Land” in Deuteronomy 26:1-11. The text is appointed for Thanksgiving Day (USA), in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss Hebrew vocabulary, shepherd imagery, and the legacy of King David in Jeremiah 23:1-6. The text is appointed for the Feast of Christ the King (Proper 29), in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss eschatology, aspiration, and ancient Near Eastern curse formulations in Isaiah 65:17-25. The text is appointed for the Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 28), in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
John Collins and Jennifer Herdt discuss poverty, apocalyptic imagery, and economic justice in reference to Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18 and Luke 6:20-31. The text is appointed for All Saints’ Day, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Harold Attridge and Greg Sterling discuss redemption, the proper use of wealth, and the strange company Jesus keeps in Luke 19:1-10. The text is appointed for the Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 26, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Awet Andemicael and Adam Eitel discuss shame, redemption, and rehabilitation in Joel 2:23-32. The text is appointed for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 25, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss punishment, free will, and the dangers of metaphor in Jeremiah 31:27-34. The text is appointed for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 24, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss trauma, hope, and poetic Hebrew in Lamentations 1:1-6 and 3:19-26. The text is appointed for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 22), in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss faith, ritual performance, and divine blessing in Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16. The text is appointed for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 21), in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Justin Crisp and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss capitalism, shrewdness, and the logic of parables in Luke 16:1-13. The text is appointed for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 20), in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
John Collins and Jennifer Herdt discuss the undoing of creation, fidelity, and false prophets in Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28. The text is appointed for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 19, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Eric Reymond discuss precarity, God as creator and destroyer, and the potter metaphor in Jeremiah 18:1-11. The text is appointed for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 18, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss humility, reversing the status quo, speaking truth to power in Sirach 10:12-18. The text is appointed for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 17, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Christian Wiman and Jacqueline Vayntrub discuss justice, prayer and action, and getting God's attention in Isaiah 58:9b-14. The text is appointed for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 16, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Erika Helgen and Chloë Starr discuss faith heroes through history, triumphant faith, and the role of sin in Hebrews 11:29-12:2. The text is appointed for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 15, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Greg Sterling and Harry Attridge discuss women in early Christian communities, eschatology, and faith as a matter of the heart in Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16. The text is appointed for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 14, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Judith Gundry and Adam Eitel discuss possession, wealth, and covetousness in Luke 12:13-21. The text is appointed for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 13, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Tisa Wenger and Joel Baden discuss bargaining, God and Abraham's new relationship, and the righteous of Sodom and Gamorrah in Genesis 18:20-32. The text is appointed for Track 2 on the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 12, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Andrew McGowan and Ned Parker discuss Mary and Martha, extroversion, and authenticity in Luke 10:38-42. The text is appointed for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 11, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Volker Leppin and Vasileios Marinis discuss poverty, God's expectations, and our responsibilities to one another in Psalm 82. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 10, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Eric Reymond discuss kings, skin diseases, and prophetic power in 2 Kings 5:1-14. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 9, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Erika Helgen and Chloë Starr discuss prophetic leadership, sudden loss, and mentorship in 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 8, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Harold Attridge and John Hare discuss gender identity, ethnic dynamics, and changes of the heart in Galatians 3:23-29. The text is appointed for Proper 7, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss joy, multiculturalism, and feminine language in Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31. The text is appointed for Trinity Sunday, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Volker Leppin and Vasileios Marinis discuss signs and wonders, Hebrew Bible connections, the promise of salvation, and more in Acts 2:1-21. The text is appointed for Pentecost, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Yejide Peters Pietersen and Bill Goettler discuss love-songs, community, and connection in reference to John 17:20-26. The text is appointed for the Feast of the Ascension, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Erika Helgen and Chloë Starr discuss social justice, human failure, and heavenly hope in Revelation 21:10, 22–22:5. The text is appointed for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Eric Reymond discuss poetic structure, creation language, and the mechanics of praise in Psalm 148. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Andrew McGowan and Ned Parker discuss whiteness, danger, and comfort in Revelation 7:9-17. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Harold Attridge and Gregory Sterling discuss Resurrection encounters and calls to action in Acts 9:1-20 and John 21:1-19. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday of Easter, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Mark Heim and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss doubt, trauma, and the value of “Doubting Thomas” in John 20:19-31. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday of Easter, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Harry Attridge and John Hare discuss faith, uncertainty, and the power of emotion in John 20:1-18. The text is appointed for Easter Day, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Tisa Wenger discuss the construction of stories, Christian supersessionism, and the legacy of Christian storytelling in relation to Genesis 22:1-18. The text is appointed for the Easter Vigil, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Judy Gundry and Adam Eitel discuss the innocence of Jesus, divine kingship, and more in John 18:1-19:42. The text is appointed for Good Friday, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
John Collins and Jennifer Herdt discuss enslavement imagery, Passover liberation, and models of service in Exodus 12:1-14 and John 13:1-17. The texts are appointed for Maundy Thursday, in all three years of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Andrew McGowan and Ned Parker discuss community, sacrament, and suffering in Luke 22:14-23:56. The text is appointed for the Palm Sunday, the Liturgy of the Passion, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Tisa Wenger and Joel Baden discuss divine violence, colonialism, and the notion of “wilderness” in Isaiah 43:16-21. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Yejide Peters Pietersen and Bill Goettler discuss reconciliation, spiritual role-models, and what it means to “become the righteousness of God” with reference to 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. The text is appointed for the 4th Sunday in Lent, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Judith Gundry and Adam Eitel discuss repentance, leniency, and divine warnings in Luke 13:1-9. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday in Lent, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Eric Reymond discuss inheritance, offspring, and the promises of God in Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday in Lent, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Harold Attridge and John Hare discuss the possibility of being in relationship with God in Romans 10:8b-13. The text is appointed for the First Sunday in Lent, March 6, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss the healing and transforming power of God in Luke 9:28-43. The text is appointed for Transfiguration Sunday, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Sarah Drummond and Joel Baden discuss forgiveness and the sibling dynamics at work in Genesis 45:3-11,15. The text is appointed for the Seventh Sunday after Epiphany, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss Jesus’ blessings and warnings in Luke 6:17-26. The text is appointed for the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany, Sunday, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Jacqueline Vayntrub and Christian Wiman discuss the difference between verse and prose in Isaiah 6:1-13. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Sarah Drummond and Joel Baden discuss reluctant prophets and God’s will in Jeremiah 1:4-10. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Erika Helgen and Chloe Starr discuss the church universal and love as the basis for the exercise of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday after Epiphany, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss recognizing God in the midst of community and the diversity of gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday after Epiphany, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss the power of God in Psalm 29. The text is appointed for the First Sunday after Epiphany, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Awet Andemicael and Adam Eitel discuss the mystery, language and lyricism in John 1:1-18. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday after Christmas, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Gregory Sterling and Harold Attridge discuss the humanity of young Jesus and the role of Mary as mother in Luke 2:41-52. The text is appointed for the First Sunday after Christmas, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Sarah Drummond and Joel Baden discuss birth, kingship and signs of God’s redemption in Isaiah 9:2-7. The text is appointed for Christmas (Proper 1), December 24, Years A, B, and C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss the Magnificat and our understanding of Mary through the ages in relation to Luke 1:46b-55. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday of Advent (Advent 4), Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Sarah Drummond discuss hope, apathy, and why the context of prophecy matters in Zephaniah 3:14-20. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday of Advent (Advent 3), Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss disaster and hope, glory, and reversal in Baruch 5:1-9. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday of Advent (Advent 2), Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Tisa Wenger discuss messianic prophecy, timelessness, and historic context in Jeremiah 33:14-16. The text is appointed for the First Sunday of Advent (Advent 1), Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Chapter, Verse, and Season gives listeners the opportunity to overhear the kinds of conversations that take place in the halls of Yale Divinity School. Each week, professors from different theological disciplines chat about biblical texts from the Revised Common Lectionary. They bring their own interests to the table and hopefully spark new insights into the scripture appointed for each Sunday.