Cyber-Psalm 15 has been published.

In this psalm I am pondering the “folk theology” of the masses as opposed to the “acceptable theology” of the clergy and scholars. The two theologies are almost always in tension and largely irreconcilable. Certainly that which is handed down to us by centuries of scholarly study is seen as the more acceptable of the two. Even so, I think most people continue to hold secret hopes that the theologians are wrong about sin and judgement and hell. You can accuse me here of flirting with universalism and in a way that is what I am doing. But it is worth thinking about how despite all the influence of the experts, ordinary people continue to harbor hopes about ultimate things that are contrary to acceptable doctrine.

Think about it from God’s perspective. All over the world people are praying to him and praising him and thinking about him in terms that are at times downright wacky. More troubling is that many mock him, disbelieve him and live their lives as if he didn’t exist.

A final thing I wanted to mention is this idea of how we who live in the prosperous West tend to spiritualize stories in the Gospels since they “can’t possibly” have a direct application today. So how do we interpret the healing of blind Bartimaeus? Well, obviously this refers to those of us who are spiritually blind and recognize our need of revelation! But for my blind friend who lives in Tete, his application would be quite different: If Jesus healed Bartimaeus, maybe I can see again!