Jerry Hwang, author of Contextualization and the Old Testament and co-editor of Exploring the Old Testament in Asia, reflects on the importance and impact of contextualizing the Old Testament.
Migration has been a reality since the beginning of time. It was the process through which people found places to build homes and communities that could sustain them. It is a phenomenon of human history that permeates the biblical narrative. Rupen Das looks at how the movement of people (both forced and voluntary) weaves through biblical history, not as a background to the main narrative but as fundamental to God’s purposes.
God is always worthy of our praise, but the Bible is full of rich expressions of relationships with God that cover a wide range of experiences and emotions. God in his infinite wisdom included this in his divine word. Yet so often, all over the world, Christians and the church at wide seem locked in to praise and thanksgiving at the exclusion of pouring out our hearts to our loving Father in heaven. Federico Villanueva helps us to engage with our grief during this time of hardship and trial as a result of the coronavirus pandemic by pointing us to the word of God in Lamentations.
In some cases religious leaders across the spectrum of faiths have made statements or encouraged behaviour contravening the general consensus and against WHO advice. But what does the Bible tell us about how to respond to the coronavirus pandemic? What lessons does the word of God hold for us and how can it help us deal with the current pandemic? Chinyere Felicia Priest opens up the Old Testament for us in this article.
