The Bible as Literature

Imagine a monster whose primary interest is to embrace philosophy and then power—Roman power, Greco-Roman power, and Greek philosophy, in other words, human power. Origen.  You know what he loved.  The ugliest, most vile, sinister, and self-serving sin, zealously and passionately preached by everyone I know. The worship of state, ethnicity, family, religion, but especially philosophy—for example,...

No statement more fully captures the anti-scriptural sadism of colonial solipsism than the American expression, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”  Unless, of course, the “em” is a shepherd standing at the midbar, reciting the written command of the Scriptural, inexistent, invisible, unseen, indomitable God who has no egregious, obscene, man-made statue or temple. By all means, join him, if you ca...

It gets so old—your universal declarations, your philosophies, your ideologies, your heightened sensibilities, your values, your propaganda, your Kool-Aid.  Your gods.  Hearing Fr. Paul teach, it hit me like a ton of your rubble. When people hear the words of the biblical Prophet, they can’t help but respond by preaching their civilization. It’s an obvious, if not childlike, attempt to assimilate...

Every immigrant, every minority, and every colonized person living under a human boot faces the same dilemma: how to live without imitating or accepting the ways of the human gods that impose their glory. “We have,” a wise poet once said, “on this earth what makes life worth living.” Scripture, Fr. Paul has explained many times, forged a path for living in the ancient world by refusing to accept t...

There is nothing like a cup of Turkish Coffee. That’s not an opinion. It’s an observation of fact. The local Starbucks does not serve Turkish Coffee. That’s why I never buy Starbucks for Fr. Paul before his lectures. Why would I? Why would anyone who cares about anything important, meaning Scripture, do something so foolish? I am pretty sure there is a “Stars and Bucks” somewhere in the Middle Eas...

The Bible, Fr. Paul explains, is a holy joke.  That’s a big relief. Even hopeful.  Looking around, I see that the current state of affairs is an unholy joke. Truly, if the Scriptural God is not laughing at us, mocking us, and ultimately—as Fr. Paul explains—entrapping us, he is not God.  He can’t be.  What kind of god, what monster, would be happy with us? I mean, seriously, people?  Look at us. D...

Code Pink! Code Pink! People are running around with blinders on!  It appears they’ve been reading English translations of the Septuagint! Half keep referring to something called the Books of the Kingdoms, which do not appear in the Bible; the other half are enamored with some goofy Greek nonsense called “philosophical questioning.”  One of them keeps eating ice cream in a stupor.  They insist tha...

Scripture unmasks your illusions. Religion, family, friends, ideas, institutions, nations, individuals, “isms” of every school—all your human ideals and beliefs are a lie.  Unfortunately, you can’t sleep around with your lies and remain faithful to the Master.   You do, in fact, have to make a choice. Note my use of the word “fact.”  So, please, step in front of the bus or return to the safety of...

This week, a few listeners reached out to wish me well on my sabbatical or to ask what I plan to do with my free time.  First, please be assured that I will not be eating ice cream. Second, as my oldest Palestinian cousin Tina said while doing manual labor at St. Elizabeth, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”  In her honor, let’s make good use of the time because the days are definitely evil.  Teaching is...

This week, Fr. Paul refers to the Apostle Paul’s letter to Timothy, noting a disciple’s duty to take every single opportunity at every moment to channel the content of Scripture at every turn, in time and out of time, using every chance afforded to share what you received, not from the teacher, but directly from the text. In this vein, Fr. Paul reiterates a point from his most recent presentation...

“Scripture,” Fr. Paul wrote years ago, “is its own interpreter.” “The sermon,” he continued,“…is at best an invitation to hear and obey the text.” “An invitation card has no value whatsoever when it comes to the dinner itself; the guests are fed by the dinner, not by the invitation or its phrasing (Luke 14:16-24; Matthew 22:1-14).” This study of the Gospel of Luke began with a command that the pri...

This week, Fr. Paul notes the function of the two versions of the Ten Commandments in Exodus and Numbers and the futility of the so-called “Deuteronomic Reform.” (Episode 313) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In view of current events, I am convinced that people who continue to insist upon the language of post-modernism are guilty of murder.  A bullet is not a narrative. A cylindrical projectile launched from a chamber through the rapid expansion of gas induced by combustion is a fact. Just ask a nursing mother. She will tell you.  A bullet is not a narrative.  It is a sin. ḥet-ṭet-aleph It can be tall...

This week, Fr. Paul highlights several key features—not only of the Book of Numbers—but also of the Pentateuch. Most notably, he points out that in all five books, God is never referred to as the “King of Israel.” This fact, he explains, is the main bone of contention in the confrontation between the people and God the Lord in 1 Samuel. (Episode 312)  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

With all the silly memes floating around the internet about how to “live” your best life or how to live a “good” life, it was inevitable that people would talk about using Scripture to “live a good” life. It’s an old lie, actually, and it was unavoidable that it would reappear.  Oh, come on, Fr. Marc. You know what they mean. Unfortunately, no. I do not. I do not speak Plato. I do not know what th...

For years, Fr. Paul has stressed that the only way to teach Scripture is by giving practical examples. Scripture is practical knowledge. From an early age, he explains, children can hear the text only if you relay its content with common sense examples, unlike complex theological theories that confuse children and betray the text, deactivating its functions. (Episode 311) ★ Support this podcast on...

A prophet gathered people to do difficult, painful, and dangerous work, which was to be carried out according to specific instructions. He said, “I am going to do this work, no matter what the cost, no matter how long it takes, according to the instructions given to me.”  When his tribe heard the instructions, they said, “That’s your choice; we want nothing to do with you.”  When his friends heard...

This week, Fr. Paul moves from his discussion of Leviticus to the book of Numbers, but not before a brief excursus to unpack the original Hebrew names of the books of the Law, which stress “speaking aloud” and “spoken words,”  reflecting the content of the books themselves. (Episode 310)  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Speak, be silent, have your discourse, hold your discourse, mansplain, or be ever so polite and attentive. Gossip, hold your tongue, roll it around seven times seventy, or run it.  Psychoanalyze your neighbor or choose wisely not to judge others.  Who cares?  Rehear Ecclesiastes: You are nothing new under the sun. You are not a judge, the judge, or anyone’s judge.  Look down on yourself as hard as...

This week, Fr. Paul explains that God learned his lesson in Leviticus, where the land is not cursed, as it was in Genesis, but granted rest to enjoy its sabbaths—a rest it does not have when men dwell up on it. (Episode 309)  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Ah, the occidental trap. The neurosis. The spiral of death. Dante’s hell. An eternal maze of nonsensical self-preoccupation. “What is my value?” Which boils down to, well, “nothing.”  Then you “build” a philosophy department and “create” an entire field of study to “examine,” well, “nothing.” You even give it a fancy Latin name so that none of you look useless when interacting with engineers and m...

This week, by the simple act of reading the text of Leviticus 26 aloud, Fr. Paul demonstrates the extreme poverty of Judeo-Christianism, its frailty, what this means for the widow and the orphan, and, painfully, what the subject of all his verbs has in store for those who do not heed his words, directly. (Episode 308)  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Occidental scholarship is a fraud. It comes with its own knowledge, the way a guest comes to a potluck meal with his own communion bread. By definition, if you bring it, it is not the Eucharist—it is a McDonald’s Happy Meal. It feels good—like a cheap date—but after you are done, all that’s left are empty calories, with a portion of your proceeds donated to the military-industrial complex.   It do...

This week, Fr. Paul highlights the folly of all modern hearers of the Bible, who, through their theologies, divest and disrobe themselves of the “fear” of God under cover of their “approach” to the Bible. There is a word for this: it’s called impiety.  This leads to the transgression of God’s commandment:  “You shall not rule over him with harshness, but are to fear your God.”(Leviticus 25:43) “Fo...