Wil
Biblical scholar in Hebrew and Hebrew Bible: special interest in translation textual plurality, (Septuagint, Dead Seas Scrolls, Samaritan Pentateuch, Aleppo Codex, Leningrad Codex); feminist, womanist and post-colonial biblical interpretation; prophets and prophecy in the Ancient Near East and ancient Israel Episcopal priest, product of the Black Church, author, blogger, preacher, teacher, lecturer, public speaker
Lament for Jerusalem and Genocidal Violence
Luke 13:31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Go! And get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” 32 He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘See here, I am casting out demons and restoring health today and tomorrow, and on the third I...... Read More
Ritualizing Bathsheba’s Rape
In the powerful image by Pauline Williamson (who creates as Sea), Bathsheba sits with her dead or dying child produced from David’s rape while he prays for the child. See her own interpretive work on this passage here. It is Shrove Tuesday, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday when Christians traditionally went to confession and were...... Read More
Rejoice and Repent
Let us pray: Blessed Mother, teach us to say yes to God. Amen. This is Joy Sunday. If we still spoke Latin as a Church, we’d know it as GaudeteSunday in part because before it tells us not to worry about anything, Philippians says: Rejoice in the Lord always! Again, I say, Rejoice! Gaudete (rejoice) in...... Read More
Majesty, Mercy, and Mystery
Welcome to Trinity on the last Sunday of the Christian calendar, the Sunday in which we proclaim Christ’s sovereignty and wrestle with the limitations of human language. Let us pray: May God who is Majesty, Mercy, and Mystery travel with us from cradle to cross. Amen. Our lessons are trying to do two things, end...... Read More
What Does the Bible Say About Sexuality?
National Courageous Conversations Part VI: Sexuality with Dr. Wil Gafney, Dr. Cleotha Robertson, Dr. Rodney Sadler and Quonekuia Day.
Courageous Conversations is Jude 3 Project’s national gathering that pairs African American voices trained at conservative evangelical seminaries or divinity schools with African American voices trained at mainline seminaries or divinity schools to discuss controversial topics.... Read More
Courageous Conversations is Jude 3 Project’s national gathering that pairs African American voices trained at conservative evangelical seminaries or divinity schools with African American voices trained at mainline seminaries or divinity schools to discuss controversial topics.... Read More
Redeeming Qayin (Cain)
In the name of God whose mercy is just and whose justice is merciful. Amen. Zillah gave birth to Tuval Qayin, who forged every kind of implement of bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal Qayin was Naamah. In my sanctified imagination I envision what it was like being Tuval Qayin, saddled with the...... Read More
God Is Bigger
I could preach all four readings in one sentence: God Is Bigger. But we live in a time when clichés and bumper sticker theology won’t cut it, even if they’re true. We face serious issues, serious life-threatening, heart-rending issues. In the face of incarcerated children crying for mothers they’ve been told abandoned them, politicians...... Read More
How Long Shall Justice Be Aborted?
https://www.facebook.com/traci.blackmon/videos/10216424686271095/ Violence. A single word of scripture begets a thousand words. The prophet cried violence, screamed violence; hurled it at the skies and the God veiled within. Violence. Violence all around. Habakkuk’s people were under siege. He doesn’t tell us when he prophesied but we know ancient Israel lurched perpetually from one catastrophe to another,...... Read More
When Gomer Looks More Like God
Some men love to call women whores. Some women do too. The biblical writers use the word whore and accusations of whoring freely and freely attribute them to God. Reading a text like Hosea can easily have you convinced God–or somebody–is fixated on women’s bodies and sexuality as though we are the genesis of everything...... Read More
Wisdom’s Table is God’s Table
In the name of God who reveals herself to be more than we ever expected. Amen. The insistence that God is male and only male has not rung true to more than half the people on planet from the time the Israelite Judean elite began to codify their sacred texts shaping the religions that have...... Read More