Latest news with #Yahweh
The Herald
27-06-2025
- General
- The Herald
Which god will wash away the sin of America's attack on Iran
Modernity is a hot mess right now, so it's possible that after the hustle of Moon Day you're taking things easy on Tiw's Day and might only read this on Odin's Day, or perhaps Thor's Day, before you reach Frigg's Day and then relax on Saturn's Day and Sun Day. But whenever you do read it, try to spare a thought for poor old Tiw and Frigg, once A-listers among the Germanic gods but now, without even a walk-on in a Marvel movie, relegated to being little more than the answers to pub quizzes. They're not alone, of course: there's a whole pantheon of divine has-beens, gods who were revered and beseeched by our ancestors but who are now little more than historical footnotes. Consider Baal, once the go-to god of the Canaanites on all matters climatic and agricultural, a being so powerful that his name meant 'Lord'. But things change, and as soon as the early Israelites decided monotheism was more of a vibe and retired all their gods except Yahweh, the one in charge of war and weather, Baal was kicked to the heavenly curb. It also didn't help that he was still being worshipped by the Philistines next door, and before you could say 'Holy rebranding!' the beloved deity formerly known as Lord had become Baal-zebub and then Beelzebub, one of the princes of hell. Over the weekend as I watched the pagan US president take a moment away from worshipping Mammon and himself to ask Yahweh to bless the US, Israel and the Middle East (because apparently Israel isn't in the Middle East), I was reminded of how transient our gods really are, perhaps because so many of their followers are prone to changing their entire set of beliefs when it suits their earthly interests.
Boston Globe
19-06-2025
- General
- Boston Globe
Walter Brueggemann, theologian who argued for the poor, dies at 92
His best-known book was 'The Prophetic Imagination' (1978), which has sold more than 1 million copies, according to Publishers Weekly. But there were dozens of others, including collections of his sermons and guides to studying the Old Testament. Dr. Brueggemann's work, while little known to the general reading public, is widely used in seminaries. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Jim Wallis, a progressive evangelist and theologian who heads Georgetown University's Center on Faith and Justice, said in an interview that Dr. Brueggemann was 'our best biblical scholar of the prophets -- and he became one himself.' Advertisement 'There are court prophets, prophets who just speak to what the king wants them to say,' Wallis said, 'and then there are the biblical prophets who speak up for the poorest and most marginal.' Dr. Brueggemann, he said, was akin to the second kind. Born to a pastor in the Evangelical and Reformed Church, an ancestor of the latter-day United Church of Christ, Dr. Brueggemann grew up in modest circumstances. His grandparents were Prussian immigrants, and his family arrived in the Midwest via New Orleans. He remained an active member of the church throughout his career, speaking frequently at conferences. Advertisement A small-town Missouri boyhood baling hay and working at service stations gave him a natural sympathy for the underdog, Conrad Kanagy wrote in 'Walter Brueggemann's Prophetic Imagination: A Theological Biography' (2023). Dr. Brueggemann's reading of Scripture was unusually pointed and critical of establishment churches, shaped by what Kanagy called his 'German evangelical Pietism.' 'The contemporary American church is so largely enculturated to the American ethos of consumerism that it has little power to believe or to act,' Dr. Brueggemann wrote in 'The Prophetic Imagination.' For him, Yahweh, the God of the Hebrew Bible, is 'a real character and an active agent,' he said in a lecture in 2023 -- a God that is disappointed in mankind's failings and yet promises 'a new world that is possible.' In 'The Prophetic Imagination,' Dr. Brueggemann drew a sharp contrast between this God and the gods of the empire. The God of Moses, he wrote, 'acts in his lordly freedom' and 'is extrapolated from no social reality.' Unlike pharaoh's gods -- who were invented to legitimize power and preserve the status quo -- Yahweh disrupts it, calling people toward justice, liberation, and hope. Yahweh 'is captive to no social perception but acts from his own person toward his own purposes,' Dr. Brueggemann wrote. 'At the same time,' he added, 'Moses dismantles the politics of oppression and exploitation by countering it with a politics of justice and compassion.' For Dr. Brueggemann, Kanagy wrote, 'the biblical text was meant to be a free document that told the story of a free God who related to a free people past and present.' Advertisement The church's role thus seemed clear to the theologian. 'The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us,' Dr. Brueggemann wrote. It was, in his view, the church's role not to reinforce established social realities but to question systems of power and inequality at every turn -- just as, say, the church leaders of the American Civil Rights Movement had done by invoking Scripture to confront racism and injustice. A passage in the Book of Jeremiah had a particular impact on Dr. Brueggemann, Kanagy wrote. God says: 'To care for the poor and the needy, is this not to know me?' according to Jeremiah. Understanding these words 'was a crystallizing moment for Walter, as he recognized that the text did not say, if one has knowledge of God, then they will care for the poor,' Kanagy wrote. 'Or that if one cares for the poor, they will get knowledge of God. Rather, it simply declares that 'the care of the poor is knowledge of God.'' Dr. Brueggemann taught generations of seminarians, first at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis and then in Decatur. On a blackboard, he would lay out patterns and repetitions of biblical text for his students. 'He was famous among students for jumping up on tables, mimicking the Almighty, and doing just about anything to help students make connections with the text,' Kanagy wrote. Walter Albert Brueggemann was born March 11, 1933, in Tilden, Neb., the youngest of three sons of August and Hilda (Hallman) Brueggemann. He grew up in rural parsonages in Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri, according to his website, but mostly in Blackburn, Mo., where his high school had 30 students and one shelf of books, which he 'read and read again,' Kanagy wrote. Advertisement He received a Bachelor of Arts from Elmhurst College (now Elmhurst University) in Illinois in 1955; a bachelor's in divinity from Eden Theological Seminary in 1958; a doctorate of theology degree from Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan in 1961; and a doctorate in education from Saint Louis University in 1974. He taught at Eden from 1961 to 1986 and also served as dean there. He became a professor of the Old Testament at Columbia in 1986 and retired in 2003. He leaves his second wife, Tia (Ehrhardt) Brueggemann; two sons, James and John; and five grandchildren. His first marriage, to Mary Bonner Miller, ended in divorce in 2005. Throughout his career, Dr. Brueggemann called for a questioning of, and a pushing back against, the status quo, with a focus on those on the margins of society. 'It was a biblical matter for him, to be ignoring the poor while rewarding the rich,' Wallis of Georgetown said. 'We will not understand the meaning of prophetic imagination unless we see the connection between the religion of static triumphalism and the politics of oppression and exploitation, " Dr. Brueggemann wrote in 'The Prophetic Imagination.' He added, 'It is the marvel of prophetic faith that both imperial religion and imperial politics could be broken.' This article originally appeared in
Washington Post
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
YHWH Nailgun defies classification with music both sacred and profane
From its band name down, YHWH Nailgun embodies the dichotomy of the sacred and the profane. There's that moniker: first half pronounced 'Yahweh,' the tetragrammaton that speaks the unspeakable name of God in the Hebrew Bible, and 'nailgun,' a construction tool that draws power from compressed air or a small explosion, as an infamous scene in 'The Wire' taught us.
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Express Tribune
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Chrisean Rock drops first gospel single 'Yahweh' after spiritual transformation
Chrisean Rock is embracing a new chapter—this time, through gospel music. The rapper and former reality star debuted her first gospel single, 'Yahweh,' during a heartfelt performance at Faith City Central Church in Brandywine, Maryland, on Sunday. She was joined on stage by her infant son, Chrisean Jesus, whom she shares with rapper Blueface. The performance marked more than just a musical release. During the service, Chrisean—born Chrisean Eugenia Malone—sat down with Pastor Mike Freeman and opened up about her faith journey, her past, and her path forward. 'You can still be gangsta and still follow God,' she said during their conversation. ''Cause, you know, he's very peaceful, but Jesus still flipped tables.' Reflecting on her past relationship with Blueface and her appearance on the show Blue Girls Club, Chrisean admitted, 'I could have dealt with that situation with God so much better for a better outcome. It's all what you tune into, you turn into. I could've tuned out a lot of things, and still been myself.' 'I came from nothing, I'm trying to get there,' she added. 'The circumstances was the circumstances. People made an impact in my life, but I could have been the better influence to the person that impacted my life.' The rapper also acknowledged her legal troubles last summer, including time in jail. Since her release in September, Chrisean has made it clear she's working to transform her life. She reunited with her son just in time for his first birthday and turned to her faith as a foundation for healing. In November, she shared a video of her baptism on Instagram, captioning it: 'Gracious God, today I rejoice in the promise of new life that baptism symbolizes. Thank You for cleansing my heart and welcoming me into Your family.' 'Yahweh' is her first musical offering since embracing her spiritual side. It signals a shift in tone and message from the artist who's now using her voice to reflect her faith journey.
