Whether celebrated as Stir-Up Sunday, as we did, or Christ the King Sunday, this past Sunday is supposed to be the Day of Judgment. Whether we think that is good or bad depends on how we think we will be judged. Back to that later. It is also the last Sunday before Advent. Christ returns to sin in judgment of …
Advent: Lighting the Candle of Hope
Welcome to Advent! The first breath of the new church year is about to be drawn. Once more, we’ve circled around to the season of mystery, into “the close and holy darkness,” as the poet Dylan Thomas put it. Advent is laden with expectation, pregnant with strange good news, and lit by archetypal symbols. I loved this season during my …
How to Read the Bible: The Anagogical (Program and Sermon)
Program Sermon Outline I. Review a. Literal b. Allegorical c. Moral d. Anagogical II. Classical a. Anagogical b. Destiny c. Prophecy III. Modern a. Dispensationalism b. Process theology c. Speaking prophetically IV. Post-modern Finally, we come to the anagogical sense, which interprets the things related in Holy Scripture “as they signify what relates to eternal glory.” This meaning is not …
How to Read the Bible: The Anagogical (Bonus: More Culture!)
I had to look that word up. Being in seminary, words like “hermeneutics,” “exegetical,” and “soteriology” creep into your vocabulary to the point that friends and relatives are certain you are making stuff up, but I have never heard “anagogical.” It is the final of the four senses of Scripture in the classical model. It indicates a layer of meaning …