🌱Seed 🙂Agree 🟡Consideration 🔥Doctrine-Poetry-Story
The Big Idea
Doctrines are clean, clear and simple expressions of faith drawn from Scripture. They are a good means to have a clear picture about what one believes and why. However, they also can become overly reductionistic if treated as an end in themselves. Doctrine is meant to help clarify not replace the full council of Scripture. With this in mind, Biblical Poetry has a wonderful balancing force. While doctrine is clean and simple and clear. Poetry is expansive, and imaginative. Poetry reminds us of the weight and importance of God and what He does in ways that doctrine cannot communicate effectively
Previous thoughts: A Creature Among Machines
Oriented by Story
Example of the story of Jesus life and his death on the cross.
Grounded in Poetry
Athanasius’s letter to Marcellinus (Para 5-8) lays out a beautiful Christology straight from the Poetry in the Psalms.
Christ is coming from Psalm 50 and 118:
Psalm 50
The Lord will clearly come, our God, and He will not remain silent.
Psalm 118
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God, and He has illumined us.
Christ is the Word of God from Psalm 107:
Psalm 107
He sent His Word, and He healed them, and He delivered them form their ruin.
This Word of God is also the Son of God begotten before all worlds from Psalm 45, 110, and 33:
Psalm 45
My heart has uttered a good word.
Psalm 110
From the womb, before the morning star, I have begotten you.
Psalm 33
By the Word of the Lord the heavens were established, and all their powers by the breath of his mouth.
This Christ is coming into His kingdom from Psalm 45:
Psalm 45
Your Throne, O God is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of righteousness. You have loved righteousness and hated injustice. Because of this, God, your God has anointed you with oil of gladness beyond your companions.
Christ came bodily in the flesh as a man from Psalm 87:
Psalm 87
The Mother of Zion will say, “A man, and a man is born in her, and the Most High himself established her.”
Christ is born of a virgin as prophesied from David who is Mary’s ancestor from Psalm 45:
Psalm 45
Listen, daughter, and see, and bend your ear, and forget your people and the house of your father, because the king has set His heart upon your beauty.
Doctrinal Clarity
Example of end of Athanasian creed as a summary of all this.
Living in Limits
Two main characteristics are:
- time bound - rhythms
- Space bound - chiasm
also in the description of Gen 1
We are always so focused on transcending these boundaries but what if they are a core part of what makes us human and gives us meaning?
Maybe see how first commission backs this up or not
From there jumping into the metaphors that address particular parts of our existence
Explore this all more in depth with The Chiasm or the Chasm and Patterns of Liturgy-The Rhythm of Life
Psalm 103:1 (ESV)
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
Bible Genres
Bible genres are often used as a way to start thinking about the huge variety of ways of speaking in scripture.
Have the epic story of the exodus and Jesus crucifixion The poetic songs of the Psalms The clear confession of doctrine in Paul’s epistles
Example of this kind of division of literary styles in Scripture Literary Styles in the Bible
If you just go by volume there is far more episodic story and poetry then there are ever doctrinal statements throughout the pages of Scripture
Doctrine is important to be clear and concise
but poetry and story are the way that doctrine actually soaks into your being and imagination
story and poetry are both written in scripture to be remembered patterns and repetition layout of material all meant to help memory
memory is more than rote memory Memory, the Things We Keep with Us
There seems to be
The same truth can be expressed in doctrine or poetry. One is simple the other is imaginative.
Example of God speaking.
Story: Moses and the burning bush
Doctrine: God Speaks through His written word
Poetry: Find a verse that describes the voice of God through scripture.
Wisdom literature (Especially Job and Ecclesiastes) are able to foster intellectual humility that we do not know exactly how everything works
Therefore we need them all doctrine to be clear, poetry to imagine and experience, and wisdom to slow down and wonder.
Proclaiming the Gospel in its fullness should look like
Telling the eternal stories
Singing/praying/imagining the eternal poems
Teaching the eternal truths summarized in doctrines