Fifth Sunday of Lent (Cycle A)

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The Raising of Lazarus Lectionary:  34 Reading 1 -  Ezekiel 37:12-14 Responsorial Psalm -  Psalm 130:1-8 Reading 2 -  Romans 8:8-11 Verse - John 11:25a, 26 Gospel -  John 11:1-45 Lazarus, come out! LESSON: The Power of God Through Those Who Believe We’re a week away from the start of Holy Week. Our Lord now has his sights set on Jerusalem, and the pace is quickening. In these next two weeks, we’re living just one part of the Gospel passage from today: an encounter with the reality of suffering and death. Jesus is asking us to have faith in him. In today’s First Reading the prophet Ezekiel reminds us of the Lord’s promise to not only to bring us back to life but to bring us home. The background of this passage is the famous "Valley of Dry Bones." The people of Israel were in exile in Babylon. They weren't just sad; they were spiritually and nationally "dead." Their common saying was: "Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off." They d...
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Review: The Transforming Word Series, Volume 3: The Prophets: From Isaiah to Malachi

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The Transforming Word Series, Volume 3: The Prophets: From Isaiah to Malachi The Transforming Word Series, Volume 3: The Prophets: From Isaiah to Malachi by Mark W. Hamilton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Book 3 of a five (5) volume set that tries to provide some context and commentary to the Bible (OT) with this book focused on the Prophets; a collection of writings with a penchant for highly symbolic language that can be tricky for the modern audience to interpret. The series is well organized, with each book starting with an overview of the topic and what to expect. I highly recommend the entire series, although the work has a bias toward the Christian Restoration tradition (where I am very comfortable).

This book includes an introduction of who and what were the Prophets along with a brief summary of how they were redacted and used. Each chapter is written by a different author and point of view that covers a specific prophet and includes Contexts, Commentary, Superscription, Theological Reflections, For Further Study and Works Cited. In the middle each author breaks down the writing into topical blocks for exegesis with a generous number of call outs for better understanding of concepts that might not be familiar today. Isaiah and Jeremiah are by far the bulk of the book, taking up almost half. Once you get into the minor prophets, the context and commentary (or generally summary) is probably as important as the detailed interpretation of the actual text, which is very short.

1. Reading the Prophets
2. Old Testament Prophecy
3. The Bible & Literature
4. Isaiah
5. Jeremiah
6. Lamentations
7. Ezekiel
8. Daniel
9. Hosea
10. Joel
11. Amos
12. Obadiah
13. Jonah
14. Micah
15. Nahum
16. Habakkuk
17. Zephaniah
18. Haggai
19. Zechariah
20. Malachi

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#TheProphets #TheTransformingWordSeries #NetGalley.

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