When Prayer Takes Place
Forays into a Biblical World
Published on 30. November 2017
Book
Paperback/Softback
450 pages
978-0-227-17673-3 (ISBN)
Description
Where in the world was Jesus when he prayed? Where is any one of us when we pray? Since we are embodied creatures, our prayer location can be mapped onto space-time coordinates. Since we are social creatures, our prayers are also situated within our social locations. But do these sets of coordinates exhaustively identify the place that prayer takes when truly entered into? Conversely, can either set totally prevent prayer from taking place there? The studies in When Prayer Takes Place explore dimensions of these issues traced in selected texts from both parts of the Christian Bible.
Reviews / Votes
"Janzen has been looking at these biblical texts all his life. Every time he looks again, he sees something else by way of connection or nuance . . . It is a delight to salute this long-loved colleague on this rich offer that, as always from him, is a gift of newness."Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary
"Rare is the exegete who is wise beyond his or her own specialty. Rarer still is the interpreter who explores the text down to its minutest of details with infectious wonder. Janzen is that exegete: text critic, theologian, philosopher, and poet. His exegetical forays are unhurried expeditions of a vivacious mind that will touch the heart, indelibly."
William P. Brown, Columbia Theological Seminary
"Janzen models what the exegetical imagination can do when it is focused on significant questions and disciplined by wide-ranging study, thorough and exact knowledge of the biblical text, and the life of prayer itself. These essays invite us to slow down and savor Scripture."
Ellen F. Davis, Duke Divinity School
"In these essays, both old and new, Janzen delves into detailed exegetical and intertextual analyses of biblical texts, crossing both Testaments and constantly appealing to the original languages with a sensitivity that generates profoundly existential reflection on one's own relationship with God. I found his essays transformative both for my reading of Scripture and for my own life."
J. Richard Middleton
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 153 mm
Weight
654 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-227-17673-3 (9780227176733)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
J. Gerald Janzen | Brent A. Strawn | Patrick D. Miller
When Prayer Takes Place
Forays into a Biblical World
E-Book
11/2017
James Clarke & Co Ltd
€49.49
Available for download
Persons
J. Gerald Janzen is MacAllister-Petticrew Emeritus Professor of Old Testament at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. His most recent book is At the Scent of Water: The Ground of Hope in the Book of Job (2009).
Brent A. Strawn is Associate Professor of Old Testament at the Candler School of Theology and Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University.
Patrick D. Miller is Charles T. Haley Professor of Old Testament Theology Emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Brent A. Strawn is Associate Professor of Old Testament at the Candler School of Theology and Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University.
Patrick D. Miller is Charles T. Haley Professor of Old Testament Theology Emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Content
Foreword, by Brent A. Strawn and Patrick D. Miller
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction: From Plane to Plane
Part I: Orienting Ourselves in the Biblical World
1 ". . . and the Bush Was Not Consumed"
Addenda
2 What's in a Name? "Yahweh" in Exodus 3 and the Wider Biblical Context
Names and Their Meanings
The Name "Yahweh" and Its Meaning for Israel
The Name and Its Meaning for Existence Today
3 What Does the Priestly Blessing Do?
The Priestly Blessing and God's Blessing in Creation
The Vocabulary of P and the Priestly Blessing
Cosmos, Tabernacle, and the Priestly Blessing
4 Praying in the Space God Creates for the World
Making Space
The Memra
Space for God
Praying in the Space
Part II: Forays into a Biblical World
5 Prayer as Self-Address: The Case of Hannah
Comfort: God's and the Self's
Self-Encouragement in the Worship of God
siah: The Means of Self-Encouragement
Hannah's Meditation and Self-Address
6 The Root skl and the Soul Bereaved in Psalm 35
skl as Maternal Bereavement
Compassion Requited and Unrequited
Suffering the Loss of Matrixal Connections: A Psychological Perspective
Rage and the Bitterness of Unrequited Compassion
7 As God Is My Witness: Another Look at Psalm 12:6
What, Precisely, Does God Promise the Psalmist?
Another Look at the Language of the Promise
God's Promise and Job's Hope-Against-Hope in Job 16:19
8 "And Not We Ourselves": Psalm 100:3 and the Eschatological Reign of God
Is "Not We Ourselves" Grammatical Hebrew?
The Range of Variation in a Stock Expression
But Why the Need to Disavow Self-Creation?
On Divine and Human "Making"
The Verb ga'ah
Practical Atheism in Psalm(s) 9-10
More on the Self-Confident Claim, " Won't Slip"
Recurring to Craigie's Remarks on Psalm 9-10
"And Not We Ourselves": Resolving the Conflict Drama in Psalms 93-99
Themes in Psalms 93-100 Bearing on Psalm 100:3
The Conflict Drama Resolved in Psalm 100:3
Is "Not We Ourselves" Palatable in Today's World?
9 Standing on the Promises of God: On the Thematic Resonance of "No Foothold"in Psalm 69
Thematic Ligatures in the Psalms
On the Social Significance of "Standing"
One's Standing in Others' Eyes
Standing in the Face of Reproach in Psalm 69
"Standing" as a Ligature throughout the Psalter
The Case of Jeremiah
Standing before God: The Case of Daniel
On Some Hebrew Expressions Involving the Verbs hazaq and 'ames
Standing before God: The Case of Habakkuk
Back to Psalm
A Last Word, then, on Psalm 69
A Belated Confession
10 The Verb ya'ames in Psalm 27:14: Who Is Strengthening Whom?
A Preliminary Review of the Hebrew Text in Psalm 27:14
The Verb 'ms in the Qal Stem
The Verb 'ms in the Piel Stem
The Verb 'ms in the Hithpael Stem
The Verb 'ms in the Hiphil Stem
Weighing the Pros and the Cons
The Special Case of the Verb 'rk in the Hiphil Stem
Final Assessment
A Brief Excursion to Psalm 27:8
Two Modern Afterwords to Psalm 27
11 Revisiting "Forever" in Psalm 23:6
Aspects of Experience "in God's House"
Experiencing Time, Mundane and Otherwise
Connotations of the Phrase, "Length of Days," and Its Cognates
On Some Axes of Affirmation Converging in Psalm 23:6b
Drawing Matters to a Conclusion
Addendum
Part III: The Standpoint of Two Prophets
12 Solidarity and Solitariness in Ancient Israel: The Case of Jeremiah
13 Eschatological Symbol and Existence in Habakkuk
From Despairing Complaint to Affirmation in Hope
On Existing Eschatologically within and for the Present Time
Part IV: An Interlude
14 Toward a Hermeneutics of Resonance: A Methodological Interlude between the Testaments
Richard B. Hays on Intertextual Resonance
Patrick D. Miller on Resonance
Samuel Taylor Coleridge on Resonance in the Nature of Things
Resonance and Alfred North Whitehead's Di-Polar Cosmology
Rupert Sheldrake on Morphic Resonance
Hans Loewald on Resonance in Nature and in Human Becoming
Resonance and The Disenchantment of Secular Discourse
Resonance between the Testaments in Proverbs 8 and Colossians 1
On Hymnic Resonance and Community Cohesion
Part V: New Testament Afterword
15 "Hid with Christ in God"
Praying to the Father Who Is "in Secret" (Matthew 6:6)
God's "Secret Place" as Temptation and as Reality
"Your Life Is Hid with Christ in God"
Prayer in Romans 8 as the Nexus of the Solidarity of Heaven and Earth
Garrisoned in Prayer
A Postscript to Be Read in Retrospect
16 Faith as a Foothold "within the Veil": Afterwords in the Letter to the Hebrews
Faith as a Foothold on Things Hoped For
Reproach and "Standing" in Hebrews and in Psalm 69
Jesus as Son on the Throne / High Priest in the Tabernacle
Jesus as archegon kai teleioten of Faith(fulness)
17 Redeeming the Expression "Redeeming the Time"
Exagorazo in Classical Greek
Buying Time in Daniel 2
The Verb pa'am as a "Beating of Times"
Redeeming the Time in Ephesians 5:16
The Prayer of Empowerment in Ephesians 3:14-21 and the Empowering Vision in Daniel 10
Conclusion
Bibliography
A
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction: From Plane to Plane
Part I: Orienting Ourselves in the Biblical World
1 ". . . and the Bush Was Not Consumed"
Addenda
2 What's in a Name? "Yahweh" in Exodus 3 and the Wider Biblical Context
Names and Their Meanings
The Name "Yahweh" and Its Meaning for Israel
The Name and Its Meaning for Existence Today
3 What Does the Priestly Blessing Do?
The Priestly Blessing and God's Blessing in Creation
The Vocabulary of P and the Priestly Blessing
Cosmos, Tabernacle, and the Priestly Blessing
4 Praying in the Space God Creates for the World
Making Space
The Memra
Space for God
Praying in the Space
Part II: Forays into a Biblical World
5 Prayer as Self-Address: The Case of Hannah
Comfort: God's and the Self's
Self-Encouragement in the Worship of God
siah: The Means of Self-Encouragement
Hannah's Meditation and Self-Address
6 The Root skl and the Soul Bereaved in Psalm 35
skl as Maternal Bereavement
Compassion Requited and Unrequited
Suffering the Loss of Matrixal Connections: A Psychological Perspective
Rage and the Bitterness of Unrequited Compassion
7 As God Is My Witness: Another Look at Psalm 12:6
What, Precisely, Does God Promise the Psalmist?
Another Look at the Language of the Promise
God's Promise and Job's Hope-Against-Hope in Job 16:19
8 "And Not We Ourselves": Psalm 100:3 and the Eschatological Reign of God
Is "Not We Ourselves" Grammatical Hebrew?
The Range of Variation in a Stock Expression
But Why the Need to Disavow Self-Creation?
On Divine and Human "Making"
The Verb ga'ah
Practical Atheism in Psalm(s) 9-10
More on the Self-Confident Claim, " Won't Slip"
Recurring to Craigie's Remarks on Psalm 9-10
"And Not We Ourselves": Resolving the Conflict Drama in Psalms 93-99
Themes in Psalms 93-100 Bearing on Psalm 100:3
The Conflict Drama Resolved in Psalm 100:3
Is "Not We Ourselves" Palatable in Today's World?
9 Standing on the Promises of God: On the Thematic Resonance of "No Foothold"in Psalm 69
Thematic Ligatures in the Psalms
On the Social Significance of "Standing"
One's Standing in Others' Eyes
Standing in the Face of Reproach in Psalm 69
"Standing" as a Ligature throughout the Psalter
The Case of Jeremiah
Standing before God: The Case of Daniel
On Some Hebrew Expressions Involving the Verbs hazaq and 'ames
Standing before God: The Case of Habakkuk
Back to Psalm
A Last Word, then, on Psalm 69
A Belated Confession
10 The Verb ya'ames in Psalm 27:14: Who Is Strengthening Whom?
A Preliminary Review of the Hebrew Text in Psalm 27:14
The Verb 'ms in the Qal Stem
The Verb 'ms in the Piel Stem
The Verb 'ms in the Hithpael Stem
The Verb 'ms in the Hiphil Stem
Weighing the Pros and the Cons
The Special Case of the Verb 'rk in the Hiphil Stem
Final Assessment
A Brief Excursion to Psalm 27:8
Two Modern Afterwords to Psalm 27
11 Revisiting "Forever" in Psalm 23:6
Aspects of Experience "in God's House"
Experiencing Time, Mundane and Otherwise
Connotations of the Phrase, "Length of Days," and Its Cognates
On Some Axes of Affirmation Converging in Psalm 23:6b
Drawing Matters to a Conclusion
Addendum
Part III: The Standpoint of Two Prophets
12 Solidarity and Solitariness in Ancient Israel: The Case of Jeremiah
13 Eschatological Symbol and Existence in Habakkuk
From Despairing Complaint to Affirmation in Hope
On Existing Eschatologically within and for the Present Time
Part IV: An Interlude
14 Toward a Hermeneutics of Resonance: A Methodological Interlude between the Testaments
Richard B. Hays on Intertextual Resonance
Patrick D. Miller on Resonance
Samuel Taylor Coleridge on Resonance in the Nature of Things
Resonance and Alfred North Whitehead's Di-Polar Cosmology
Rupert Sheldrake on Morphic Resonance
Hans Loewald on Resonance in Nature and in Human Becoming
Resonance and The Disenchantment of Secular Discourse
Resonance between the Testaments in Proverbs 8 and Colossians 1
On Hymnic Resonance and Community Cohesion
Part V: New Testament Afterword
15 "Hid with Christ in God"
Praying to the Father Who Is "in Secret" (Matthew 6:6)
God's "Secret Place" as Temptation and as Reality
"Your Life Is Hid with Christ in God"
Prayer in Romans 8 as the Nexus of the Solidarity of Heaven and Earth
Garrisoned in Prayer
A Postscript to Be Read in Retrospect
16 Faith as a Foothold "within the Veil": Afterwords in the Letter to the Hebrews
Faith as a Foothold on Things Hoped For
Reproach and "Standing" in Hebrews and in Psalm 69
Jesus as Son on the Throne / High Priest in the Tabernacle
Jesus as archegon kai teleioten of Faith(fulness)
17 Redeeming the Expression "Redeeming the Time"
Exagorazo in Classical Greek
Buying Time in Daniel 2
The Verb pa'am as a "Beating of Times"
Redeeming the Time in Ephesians 5:16
The Prayer of Empowerment in Ephesians 3:14-21 and the Empowering Vision in Daniel 10
Conclusion
Bibliography
A