Heretics Like Us
William (Bill) Bruce
Subscribe
What's a heretic?
Somebody who doesn't believe the right things?
That's me!
www.hereticslikeus.com since 2008, echoed in podcasts from 2022
Available episodes
Newest first
Oldest first
Jun 30, 2022
Pep Talk - Deuteronomy 01-03
At the beginning of a long weekend, prepare for a reading of Deuteronomy. It took us 6 months to read the first 4 books of Torah this year, and this last book 'second book of the law' may seem like a remake of a familiar movie. What's the editorial ax being ground this time?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 29, 2022
Women's Choices - Numbers 36
Did the daughters of Zelophehad lost their hard-won property rights here - or were they preserved? Is that a footnote, or another contrast that throws the rest of the covenant in relief?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 28, 2022
Exceptions Prove Rules - Numbers 35
Is it just a digression, a footnote, to lay out 4 dozen towns for Levites, 6 of them to be cities of refuge? Or does the exception prove the rule, both in the priestly role, and in the sanctuary offered accused in the face of vengeance?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 27, 2022
Tribal Turf - Numbers 34
Get out your maps, and track the claims of ancestral homelands for the 12 tribes in Palestine. Is this simply an early land claim for the 21st century state of Israel? God forbid!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 26, 2022
Balanced Equities - Numbers 34-36
As we wrap up the wandering, we start negotiating the patrimonies of the tribes entering the promised land - with the exception of the Levites and their cities and those of refuge - and a footnote about those daughters of Zelophehad. Footnotes?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 25, 2022
Recap by Stages - Numbers 33
How did it take us so long to wander in the wilderness? Let's sum up the trip once more, retrace our steps, and wonder....
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 24, 2022
Straddling a Line - Numbers 32
What do you make of the 2.5 tribes across the Jordan in the Transjordan? Have they got the same 'skin in the game' as the others? Do we have such in-laws and cousins, in ecumenical and ethnographic terms?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 23, 2022
Vengeance - Numbers 31
The wandering refugees get permission to hit back against the dominant Midianites - read too often since as justification for genocidal wars by dominant nations against weaker ones...
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 22, 2022
Woman's Word - Numbers 30
A woman's word can bind the household, the clan, in buying and selling. In a change of relationship, a new patriarch must get notice, and disown or accept the obligations she has undertaken on our behalf. Easy?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 21, 2022
Festival Reminders - Numbers 29
Now the big 'high holidays', the pilgrimage festivals, in the annual cycle - and what are yours in comparison?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 20, 2022
Time Well Wasted - Numbers 28
So, compare this worship life of sacrifice to our own - lavish, communal, complex?
notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 19, 2022
Prepare to Party - Numbers 28-33
The daily, weekly, monthly sacrifices are only the underlying rhythm - the foundation for the great festivals. Rather than deride their complexity, we might reflect on our anemic observances?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 18, 2022
When Daughters Count
Daughters of Zelpophehad - without brothers - get to keep the clan's allotment of land.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 17, 2022
Re-Mustered Counts - Numbers 26
Counting the ranks again, including the clans within the tribes - collective shared benefits and burdens
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 16, 2022
Phineas the Cop - Numbers 25
More than an individual romance, assimilating to the dominant host culture is an existential threat to the people. Phineas enforces separation.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 15, 2022
Balaam's Vindication - Numbers 24
Balaam sticks to his brief, and knows who's his boss - bless Israel, don't curse
Notes from www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 14, 2022
Balaam's Showdown - Numbers 23
Balak wants him to curse, God says bless - Balaam is caught between -
Notes from www.heresticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 13, 2022
Balaam's Ass - Numbers 22
The donkey outthinks the prophet - for now
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 12, 2022
Barak on the Brink - Numbers 22-27
Barak and Balaam, and mustering on the banks of the Jordan, Israel's migrants are coming to the end of wilderness wandering - are we the xenophobic locals, or the fee-for-service pundits, or allies and advocates for the raggedy band?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 11, 2022
Snake on a Stick - Numbers 21
Sure, this magic is 'snake on a stick'. -the story is the detour around Edom, to come at the promised land from the east rather than from the south.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 10, 2022
Water From a Rock - Numbers 20
A replay of the waters of Meribah, complaining still after nearly 40 years - and given water from a rock still
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 9, 2022
Red Heifer Law - Numbers 19
When it's this weird, just do it! The response to contact with a dead body includes water with ashes of the red heifer...
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 8, 2022
Korah Took - Numbers 18
Aaron won, but owes a tithe back on his tithes, reminder of the risks of self-serving over-reaching priesthood in the shadow of Korah's rebellion - do you really owe the commonwealth before your personal gratification? Yes.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 7, 2022
Sprouting Stick - Numbers 17
Reinforcing Aaronic claims, left with 11 other tribal leaders' sticks in the hoy place, his staff sprouts fresh buds, blossoms, and almonds. Someday, the Messiah will hold that stick, eh?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 6, 2022
Incense Stops Plague
The Korahite rebellion gets some swallowed up, a plague stopped by incense after 17,400 deaths, extablishing the legitimate authority of Aaronic priesthood - or does it?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 5, 2022
Magic Moments - Numbers 16-21
Crossing the midpoint of Numbers, the end of wilderness wandering, including bits of magic: ground opening to swallow rebels, red heifer law, water from a rock, snake on a stick - what will you make of it all?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 4, 2022
Golus, Galut - Numbers 15
Applying the 'if-then' rules 'as if', even though in a state of 'not yet' or 'no longer', might still provide moral guidance for choice - and the apparently draconian punishments can be 'read down' by Talmudic reasoning, eh?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 3, 2022
Minority Dissent - Numbers 14
Caleb and Joshua alone resist the majority report of the other 10 consultants - and counsel courage
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 2, 2022
Consultants' Reports - Numbers 13
10 out of 12 spies, scouts, or consultants get cold feet and warn the people away from the Promised Land, with tales of superhuman giants.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jun 1, 2022
Sibling Rivalry - Numbers 12
Aaron and Miriam claim equality with Moses - God demurs, and dooms all 3 to die in the desert - after giving Miriam a case of tzara'at and quarantine outside the camp.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 31, 2022
Whiners - Numbers 11
Some of us are whining and whinging, and craving, but not construing our needs and appetites - angering God
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 30, 2022
Pacing in Order
Imagine 12 tribes arrayed around the tent: 3 on each of 4 sides. Which leads out when they break camp and relocate, which escort the holy things, and which act as rearguard? Imagine then the re-enactments for millennia since, if only between ears and behind foreheads!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 29, 2022
Spies and Rebels - Numbers 10-15
From the south, 12 spies are sent to scout the Promised Land - 10 report back scared, to advise against entering.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 28, 2022
Passover Plans
Who can participate, if their unclean status is not within their control? Who should be invited beyond 'us'?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 27, 2022
Lamps and Levites
Whose job is it to keep the home fires burning?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 26, 2022
Ante Up - Numbers 07
Here's a long (24 minutes) repetitive tale of a procession of 12 tribes in turn delivering the same set of gifts, regardless of their size or resources - to stay in the game as an equal tribal partner.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 25, 2022
Nazirites - Numbers 06
It's not just by birth - but also by voluntary vows - that you can belong to the elites. Remember Samson, or Samuel?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 24, 2022
Quarantine Jealousy - Numbers 05
Separating out the people with unclean skin or contact with dead bodies is one thing - but dealing with a jealous husband without proof of his wife's infidelity demands a harder ritual!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 23, 2022
Elite Jobs - Numbers 04
Here are the job descriptions for the elites of the Aaronic priesthood, who would handle the holiest things, to pack them up to move.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 22, 2022
Counting - Numbers 04-09
From mustering to other ways of counting: us and them, clean and unclean, if this then that - from Passover to jealous husbands, enjoy the week!
www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 21, 2022
Levites Like Us - Numbers 03
Drilling down into the specific duties of the priests, particularly in breaking camp to move the people into the wilderness.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 20, 2022
Four-Square - Numbers 02
So line up those mustered men of military age, by tribes, on each of four sides of the tent in Sinai. Imagine, 603,500 arrayed in order - or the variety of re-enactments since, at in-gathering festivals.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 19, 2022
Census - Numbers 01
Do you imagine 600 thousand military-aged men (let alone the complementary kids and women) arrayed in order In 12 tribal groups? Oh, yeah?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 19, 2022
Mustering - Numbers 01-03
Is it a census or a military muster, or just a normative imaginary pageant desert? We start 3 days, 3 chapters of recitals of the tribes, assembled on the 4 sides of the tent - and implicitly, a model for the people organized around a first temple, exile, second temple, and diaspora since. Try it!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 18, 2022
Tax Planning, Real and Personal Property - Leviticus 27
Almost like an appendix, hekdesh - what does it mean to 'redeem' a person by paying what's owed, according to Leviticus?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 17, 2022
Promises and Threats - Leviticus 26
These are the consequences of infidelity, in the divine ecology of Leviticus. If you seek right relations, or if you maltreat creation, there will be outcomes.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 16, 2022
Sabbath for the Land - Leviticus 25
Not just the people, but the land gets a break, standing in for God - leave it to volunteer enough for the humans...
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 15, 2022
Jubilee Vision - Leviticus 25-27
Here's the subversive climax of the Leviticus approach to 'us' and 'ours'. Beyond sabbath and sabbatical, how about every 50 years we just redistribute all the land back - and let the land have sabbath, lest it vomit us up and out?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 14, 2022
Light and Bread, Eye-for-an-Eye - Leviticus 24
Keep your lamps lit, in routines and rituals - then the arguments of proportionate responses to offences, rather than escalating vigilante feuds - and a strange story of an offender being stoned - or was he, if witnesses had to stand before the stones with him?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 13, 2022
Re-Creational Holy-Days - Leviticus 23
From our culture of 24/7/365, can we imagine this rhythm of festivals, mandatory in-gathering? Passover, Shavuot, in our spring, plus Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur through High Holidays in our fall, set a higher standard, eh?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 12, 2022
Qualified or Unqualified - Leviticus 21
Let's wonder about priests for a while, even if it seems esoteric and archaic, to glib liberals, smugly satisfied with our cults of credentialing, and our myths of meritocracy - perhaps this will help us get over ourselves?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 12, 2022
Restricted Uses - Leviticus 22
I love how this chapter reminds me of administration of religious charities, and hate how familiar are the abuses of the gifts we give, and the way we manipulate the 'unholy trinity' of 'benefit-burden-control' around assets entrusted to higher purposes!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 10, 2022
Capital Crimes - Separated - Leviticus 20
Focus on the punishments a bit today. Being cut off from the people, 'beyond the pale', into the desert, effects 'put to death' in the original imagined context, but for 3,000 years since, 'capital punishment' means 'separation'. Don't miss the image beyond exclusion from the people, of the land itself vomiting up the offenders, spewing them out as it had the tribes before us.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 9, 2022
Routines and Rituals - Leviticus 19
'Love your neighbour as yourself', v 18b - sure, let's just skip the routines of gleaning, in our modern barbaric cults of productivity and efficiency, and sentimentalize a half-verse as a 'golden rule'! This is a great chapter about abuse of power, too, in a culture assuming slavery and patriarchy - but we simply reduce it to jokes about mixed fabrics. Shame...
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 8, 2022
Rites and Rights - Week 4 - Leviticus 19-24
'Love your neighbour as yourself' - and a lot of procedural justice wisdom - learn to 'read down' the capital punishment laws in marginalized exile, without watering down in relativism like the glib liberals we are!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 7, 2022
Modesty - Leviticus 18
Ready or not, 2/3 of the way through Leviticus, the hot-button texts used in our culture wars to proof-text about sexual identity, orientation, and expression.
'Covering one's nakedness' or participating in Moloch's cult, here we come!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 6, 2022
Withhold or Indulge - Leviticus 17
We get to the 'Holiness Code' proper today, for the rest of this week and next - if you want to belong, you have to behave!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 5, 2022
Scapegoats and Atonement - Leviticus 16
There's always a pair of hairy-goats, in the ritual of collective atonement, one for sacrifice, the other sent 'beyond the pale', 'to Azazel'. How can you tell which is which? You can't, except by drawing lots.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 4, 2022
Discharge - Leviticus 15
Let's talk zav first, discharge from a penis, before semen, let alone niddah menstrual blood - perspective on continence norms.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 3, 2022
Restoratives and Infection Control - Leviticus 14
The rituals of recognizing tzara'at, when it's present, and when it's gone, don't mean priests treat or fix it - umpires, really.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 2, 2022
Symptoms - Leviticus 13
tzara'at - became in Greek lepra, and we get leprosy - this translation leaves it strange, as tzara'at - visible on skin, to start this week!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
May 1, 2022
Purity and Pollution - Week 3 - Leviticus 13-18
Glib liberals like us may look down on talk like 'unclean' or 'untouchable', so let's try the diction of 'purity' from food regulation, and 'pollution' from environmental regulation - we're heading toward the Holiness Code, the guts of Leviticus!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 30, 2022
New Moms - Leviticus 12
Is it the ultimate misogyny, to banish new moms for a while - twice as long if the baby is a girl?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 29, 2022
Edible or Untouchable - Leviticus 11
Were shifting into the language of clean and unclean - purity and pollution -
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 28, 2022
Kids Today - Leviticus 10
A couple of the young priests handle 'alien fire' and are burnt up like sacrifices themselves - curse or blessing?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 27, 2022
New Presiders - Leviticus 09
The sacrificers have first to sacrifice - practice what they preach...
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 26, 2022
Anointed and Ordained - Leviticus 08
The priesthood gets authorized, in another sacrificial form - legitimizing the agents
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 25, 2022
Irregular Receipts - Leviticus 07
Moving beyond the basic regular offerings to the occasional ones tied to specific intentions...
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 24, 2022
Sacrifice and Consumption (1) - Leviticus 07-12
Continue with the ritual practices of animal and grain offerings, with an orderly priesthood this week, expanding by the week-end into kasrut or 'kosher' kitchens beyond the altar.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 23, 2022
Regular Receipts - Leviticus 06
More about the routine sacrifices, as we end this first week of 'Sacrifice and Consumption' -
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 22, 2022
Giving 120% - Leviticus 05
Putting a premium on what is owed for more intentional sins like frauds.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 21, 2022
Negligence and Carelessness - Leviticus 04
What if we didn't mean to do it? Can we still make it right?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 20, 2022
Fat and Blood - Leviticus 03
Back to the messiness thrown on the burning altar, the fat and the blood, all around!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 19, 2022
Grains - Leviticus 2
Are cereal sacrifices really less strange to your consumer worldview?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 18, 2022
Meat - Leviticus 1
Here's a barbeque vision for you - can you see it and smell it, in your mental movie?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 17, 2022
Sacrifice and Consumption (1)
Starting right into the esoteric regulation of ritual sacrifices - strange in our consumer society!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 16, 2022
Tent Meetings - Exodus 40
Easter Eve - the end of something - and the beginning - transformation -
Do you notice Moses excluded from the tent, replaced by Aaron and sons - and Moses 'outside the gates'?
The people set out again, with pillars of cloud and fire are back -
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 15, 2022
Going Away Outfits - Exodus 39
'Have you worn the robes'? Try it on today - this 'ecclesiastical drag show' of vestments -
all dressed up, and somewhere to go!
www.heresticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 14, 2022
Tent Pegs - Exodus 38
The making continues - the altar, wash basin, the outer court, and a whole inventory of materials used -
Think logistics and supply chain - and offer due reverence to tent pegs and diaper changes as essential services!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 12, 2022
Skilled Trades - Exodus 36
One more time - the artisans get working, given plenty of raw material -
Thank God, 'for aesthetics is the mother of ethics' - the beautiful, not only the good and true
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 11, 2022
Sunday Best - Exodus 35
There's affirmation here of practical wisdom, skilled hands making beautiful things -
Too often drowned out by privileged academic and bureaucratic voices - can you hear a parochial word?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 10, 2022
Setting Out Again - Exodus 35-40
Is this just a replay and elaboration of the last week before the Golden Calf?
Repetition and variation might reshape us this week: Sunday Best, Skilled Trades, Travel Kit, Tent Pegs, Tent Meetings -
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 9, 2022
Confirmed for Departure - Exodus 34
Another 10 words, another 2 tablets - echoes and replays - with elaboration
Then, it's time to return to the desert to wander - off with you from Sinai!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 7, 2022
Golden Idols - Exodus 32
While God dictates the plans for sacred objects, Aaron and the people make one of their own -
Smashed, wrecked - the people are forced to drink the gold they worshiped...
Notes at www.heresticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 6, 2022
Crafts, Sabbaths
Skilled trades, arts and crafts, honoured in action and in sabbath rest -
Why don't people call their children Bezalel and Oholiab?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 5, 2022
Olfactory Organs - Exodus 30
If yesterday was too much blood and gore, taste and smell something else today -
Incense and perfumes, only associated with the holy space and time, to evoke and invoke presence
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 4, 2022
Processing Priests - Exodus 29
Now we need a cast - invested over 7 days of bloody slashing splashing ritual -
A regular Stampede!
Notes at www.heresticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 3, 2022
Completing Cycles - Exodus 29-34
The stage set, curtains hung, costumes made - on with the show - can you see the parody - or the replay?
By the end of the week, it will be time to leave Sinai behind, 'get up and go' again!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 2, 2022
Fashionistas - Exodus 28
The stage is set, curtains are hung - turn to the costumes for the players: ephods, breastplate, turbans
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Apr 1, 2022
Mood Lighting - Exodus 27
Focus on the altar, burning sacrifices, and enter the holiest place, with oil lamps to light the closed space
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 31, 2022
Design Tips - Exodus 26
We're going to need a lot of materials for the artisans, first - fabrics, woods, metals, semi-precious stones -
we're leaving the bronze age, entering the iron age - with aesthetics to match!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 30, 2022
Hope Chest - Exodus 25
Change the channel to HGTV, and create a tent and furnish it, and dress up the clergy, starting today
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 29, 2022
Travel Kit - Exodus 37
Keep making: ARk, Table, Lamp-stand, Anointing Oil and Incense - Bezalel made as God made in Genesis 1
'Travel Kits' were the symbolic cultural artifacts carried by imperial colonial 'explorers' into our 'wilderness' - and ours?
Notes from www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 29, 2022
Time to Go Again - Exodus 33
'Get up and go', 'lech lecha', like Avram - but first, God moons Moses - just a glimpse of the backside, eh?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 29, 2022
Marking a Covenant
Culmination of the 'Book of the Covenant', reminded of the setting from 5 chapters back -
Now, slaughtering bulls and flinging the 'blood of the covenant' about, not just on doorposts!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 28, 2022
Fair Dinkum- Exodus 23
All those substantive rules, apodeictic or casuistic, don't work without procedural justice - and ritual gathering
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 27, 2022
'Law & Order' to HGTV
We start the week by finishing the 'Book of the Covenant', procedural and ritual completion of the law -
Then we change channels to the furnishings of a tent, altar, and priestly garb -
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 26, 2022
Grudge Matches - Exodus 22
Reasonable and faithful people may differ - how does my morality talk with your morality?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 25, 2022
Fair Dinkum - Exodus 21
What's fair may depend on whose ox is gored, by whose ox - particularly for a repeat offender!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 24, 2022
Take Two Tablets - Exodus 20
Ten Words - 10 Commandments - can you jot them down quickly?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 23, 2022
Stopover - Exodus 19
Arriving at Sinai - camping at the foot of the mountain, only a couple of months out of Egypt
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 22, 2022
Delegation - Exodus 18
Father-in-law Jethro's Midianites, not enemies like the Amalekites - even a source of good management advice!
Notes at www.hereticlikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 21, 2022
Relief - Exodus 17
Rephidim, water from a rock at Horeb - and battling the Amalekites...
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 20, 2022
Turning Points - Exodus 17-22
We reach Sinai this week - water from a rock at Horeb, battle with Amalekites, reunion with Jethro and the inlaws - 10 commandments!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 19, 2022
Manna - Exodus 16
Grumbling and gleaning - from the quid pro quo of bondage, to the marginal subsistence of wilderness - enough for the day - and for a Sabbath
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 18, 2022
Fight Songs - Exodus 15
Here are ancient lyrics - I wish I knew the tunes! Song of the Sea, Moses' and Miriam's chants -
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 17, 2022
Crosswalk - Exodus 14
Parting of the Red or Reed Sea, by winds or in walls - pillars of cloud and fire, leading or following - fearful or triumphant -
There are mixed pairs of traditions woven here -
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 16, 2022
Setting Out - Exodus 13
The first stage into the desert is taken in a mix of horror and relief - surrounded by bereavement
Notes at www.hereticslikeuc.com
playlist_add
Mar 15, 2022
Passover - Exodus 12
The event, and the tradition that remembers it, has Hebrews hiding inside, marking their doors with lamb's blood -
God lets a destroyer kill the firstborn in every household in Egypt - but it will pass over the marked homes -
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 14, 2022
Preparing - Exodus 11
On the brink of the 10th plague, death of the first-born, the preparations begin - at least for the Hebrews -
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 13, 2022
Moving Days - Exodus 11-16
Passover, and the first stages of the march into wilderness - what's the movie playing in your head?
Are these refugees fleeing, or an organized march, a battle, or an 'act of God' phenomenon of flooding?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 12, 2022
Mood Lighting - Exodus 27
Focus on the altar, burning sacrifices, and in the holy place, needing oil lamps for lighting -
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 12, 2022
Plagues 8 and 9 - Exodus 10
Hail sweeps through, then darkness...
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 11, 2022
Plagues 5, 6, and 7 - Exodus 09
Targeted plagues, Egyptians, not Hebrews, not Goshen...
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 10, 2022
Plagues 2-4, Exodus 08
Frogs, gnats, flies - escalation of aggravation, for all
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 9, 2022
Pulling a Trigger - Exodus 07
The plagues begin, with blood and frogs....
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 8, 2022
Heirs to Promises - Exodus 06
Toledot of Levi's clans, to place Mose and Aaron in relation to future priesthoods
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 7, 2022
Labour Trouble - Exodus 05
Making bricks without straw, keeping up the quota - pecking orders -
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 6, 2022
Let My People Go - Exodus 05-10
Escalating demands, persistent refusals, enjoy the first 9 plagues!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 5, 2022
Moses Equipped - Exodus 04
Moses gets magic tricks and a mouthpiece, Aaron - yabut?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 4, 2022
Moses Recruited - Exodus 03
God calls from a burning bush - and Moses keeps saying 'yabut' excuses to resist
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 3, 2022
Young Man Moses - Exodus 02
Hotheaded young guy over-reaches his privilege - and runs away.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 2, 2022
Israel in Egypt - Exodus 01
Joseph welcomed his father and brothers - 70 key people - to Egypt.
The teem and thrived - and threaten those who forget Joseph - genocidal fear!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Mar 1, 2022
Funeral Plans - Genesis 50
This funeral procession matches the deathbed oration for operatic excess -
Here is the end of the prequel, preparing for the opening of Exodus its sequel
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 28, 2022
Operatic Deathbed - Genesis 49
Here are the recitals of the character and fate of each brother/tribe -
Imagine the audience, including members like you identifying with one or other of the tribes -
hNotes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 27, 2022
Slavery in Egypt - Exodus 01-04
The trouble with normal is it always gets worse (Bruce Cockburn)
What began as accommodating migrants ends as genocide of their descendants - how can it be?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 27, 2022
Deathbed Toledot - Genesis 49-50
Completing the deathbed with a funeral procession, here is the hinge to Exodus.
We've completed the toldedot of 'us and them - what did you make of it? What did it make of you?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 26, 2022
Deathbed Blessing - Genesis 48
The operatic deathbed oration recites the character and fates of each of 12 brothers or tribes -
I wish I knew the tune for these lyrics, as they were re-enacted in different eras to audiences identifying with the tribes!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 25, 2022
Fore-Shadowing - Genesis 47
This is not setting up a happily-ever-after conclusion to the Joseph story - why settle in Goshen?
Joseph is the evil genius or at least the civil servant of tyranny, reducing Egyptians to landless share-croppers.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 24, 2022
Israel to Goshen - Genesis 46
The move from Palestine to Egypt - or just to the east side of the Nile Delta -
Negotiated as herdsmen, to avoid the agriculture of the riverbanks, or servitude of the cities -
Land o' Goshen - when was that our social location?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 23, 2022
Merciful Relief - Genesis 45
Joseph finally relents and comes out, reconciling with the brothers -
Rationalizing the original sins in a bigger providential frame.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 22, 2022
Judah's Appeal - Genesis 44
Judah now speaks up, to advocate for his little brother, to beg mercy
He stands in solidarity, and offers to stand in to suffer any consequences.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 21, 2022
Judah Steps Up - Genesis 43
Judah redeems himself as leader of the second expedition back to Egypt -
Taking Benjamin, he stands surety for his little brother's safe return
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 20, 2022
Deserts for Jacob's Sons - Genesis 43-48
The rest of the novella, the Joseph saga in the Jacob toledot, may be more challenging,
difficult to reduce to the Disneyfied moralistic version. Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 19, 2022
Tables Turned - Genesis 42
Joseph, sold out on Monday by his 10 brothers, now is the powerful one facing their need -
Karmic consequences, and unresolved tensions -
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 18, 2022
Pharaoh's Nightmares - Genesis 41
The dreams of the privileged and powerful are often nightmares - they have everything to lose!
Who can interpret and name things clearly - the guy with nothing to lose -
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 17, 2022
Interpreting Dreams - Genesis 40
Here's another version of Joseph's time in prison -
Making sense of fellow prisoners' dreams -
www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 16, 2022
Integrity's Rewards - Genesis 39
Joseph prospers in Potiphar's household, till Potiphar's wife accuses him, and he is imprisoned
Joseph prospers in prison - persistently making something of what he's given
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 15, 2022
Onan's Sin - Genesis 38
Tamar was failed by her brother-in-law Onan, and justice delayed was justice denied from her father-in-law Judah
She got her economic security within the family, after her husband Er died
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 14, 2022
Selling Out Joseph - Genesis 37
Jealous brothers sell out proud favourite Joseph - at least they don't kill him, eh?
There's a tribal tale here about who's the villain, and who is less bad - some Valentine!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 13, 2022
Toledot of Jacob's Sons
Here's the cycle of Joseph stories - the 'Technicolour Dreamcoat' is a Disneyfication -
Sold out as the week begins, Joseph turns the tables by the end -
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 12, 2022
Toledot of Esau - Genesis 36
Don't skip over the unfamiliar toledot of the southern cousins on the trade routes to the gulf -
What are our 'twins separated at birth' post-colonial cousins, to compare and contrast?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 11, 2022
Bethel and Rachel's Tomb - Genesis 35
Rachel dies in childbirth of Benjamin, on the borderland of Judah - Bethlehem, Ephrathah
The 12th tribe, conceived in Haran, birthed in Canaan -
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 10, 2022
Dinah - Genesis 34
Dinah explores - Shechem falls in love - must she be reduced to victim or whore?
What if we tried the 'toledot of us and them' reading of resisting assimilation?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 9, 2022
Reunion - Genesis 33
Jacob-Israel now precedes his caravan, to meet Esau and his 400 armed men -
Is this a sentimental reunion, or a border skirmish leading to a truce?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 8, 2022
Crossing the Jabbok - Genesis 32
Jacob sends the 4 mothers and 11 kids across the Jabbok first, but comes back to sleep at Peniel -
Wrestling with man/God, he wakes with a new name and identity - what's left, and entered?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 7, 2022
Leaving Laban - Genesis 31
Jacob is coming out, transitioning (as Avram did before him), a wandering Aramean, heading south.
There's a rearguard action, to deal with Laban - setting boundaries.
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 6, 2022
Toledot of Jacob-Israel, Genesis 31-36
Jacob comes out, transitions, comes home, rearguard negotiated with Laban, advance parties with Esau -
Crossing the Jabbok, dream at Peniel - Benjamin born and Rachel buried
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 5, 2022
Jacob's Boys - Genesis 30
Follow a map as you hear of the 12 sons of 4 mothers -
It's a pecking order among provinces - the maids' sons marginal, remote -
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 4, 2022
Laban's Girls - Genesis 29
Compare the story of Eliezer fetching Rebekah for Isaac, to Jacob haggling with Laban
Rachel, Leah, Bilhah, Zilpah - not (just) a 'Handmaid's Tale' morality tale of patriarchal abuse of power -
What if the 4 mothers of 12 sons tell a tribal tale of peoples in an alliance culminating with David and Solomon?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 2, 2022
Tricky Blessing - Genesis 27
Deceptively familiar, this tale of Jacob tricking Isaac into the blesssing owed to firstborn Esau -
How does it read this time, as a story of peoples, rather than (just) a psychodrama?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 2, 2022
Twins Spilt Up - Genesis 28
Each twin tries to please the patriarch with their choice of marriage alliance -
More than a moral tale, what's the existential risk for minorities of assimilating, 'exogamy'?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Feb 1, 2022
Abimelech Replay - Genesis 26
Here's another 'wife/sister' deception - this time Rebekah enduring Philistine leers -
Does it help to read it as a story for minorities resisting assimilation?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 31, 2022
Abraham's Loose Ends - Genesis 25
Don't skip over Keturah, the other wife, or the toledot of Ishmael, the other 12 princes!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 30, 2022
Toledot of Yitzaak - Genesis 25-30
Sandwiched between the longer sagas of Avram/Abraham and Jacob/Israel, is Isaac
Is this an invention to bridge two traditions by making them father and son of this middle figure?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com - or just listen!
playlist_add
Jan 29, 2022
Rebekah - Rivkah - Genesis 24
Does this arranged marriage offend you?
Is it really about marrying your cousin?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 28, 2022
Sarah's Grave - Genesis 23
Sarah is buried in Hebron, in another land claim -
What's your right to reside, or your claim to land title?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 27, 2022
The Akedah - Genesis 22
Abraham gives up Ishmael to thirst in the desert,
Then offers up Isaac to fire on the mountain -
Compare Jewish, Muslim, and Christian traditions -
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 26, 2022
Isaac's Birth, Ishmael''s Borders - Genesis 21
Finally, Sarah births Isaac -
Don't skip over the toledot of Ishmael, father of 12 princes!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 25, 2022
Abimelech and Sarah - Genesis 20
Replay the 'she's not my wife, just my sister' story from Genesis 12 -
This time with the host Philistine king, Abimelech -
What do you think of 'endogamy' and 'exogamy'?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 24, 2022
Sodom and Gomorrah - Genesis 19
The inhospitality of the city to divine guests has consequences -
For more notes, www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 23, 2022
Toledot of Abraham - Genesis 19-24
The second half of the cycle of stories begun as the toledot of Avram -
Abraham, father of many nations, is father of Ishmael and now of Isaac -
For more notes, try www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 22, 2022
Laughable Promise - Genesis 18
Divine messengers bring good news to hospitable Abraham and Sarah - who welcome generously, and laugh
The same agents carry bad news to inhospitable Sodom and Gomorrah
Notes - www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 21, 2022
Circumcision Claims - Genesis 17
Avram becomes Abraham, father of many nations - covenant marked by circumcision
What's our balance of givenness and chosenness of our collective identities -
Are we entirely consumers choosing - or can that be cultural appropriation?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 20, 2022
Hagar's Ishmael - Genesis 16
Barren Sarai offers her maid Hagar to produce an heir - conflict follows -
Hagar returns to submit, with the promise of a legacy for her son Ishmael
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 19, 2022
Cutting Covenant - Genesis 15
Avram cuts a bunch of animals in half, beats off the scavengers, till smoke and fire pass between the parts at night -
What's that extravagant sacrifice mean to us in our utilitarian culture?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 18, 2022
Kings' Wars - Genesis 14
5 kings against 4, and Lot chooses the wrong alliance.
Avram rescues his nephew, makes peace as Melchizedek presides as king-priest
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 17, 2022
Immigrant Claims - Genesis 13
Avram and Sarai, and nephew Lot, immigrate from Egypt -
This occupation is less violent than Joshua's invasion, eh?
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 16, 2022
Toledot of Avram - Genesis 13-18
The first half of Avram's saga, with repeated but unrealized promises -
Hagar gives birth to Ishmael - Sarah is still waiting for Yitzaak by week-end!
Notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 15, 2022
Introducing Avram - Genesis 12
Here's the overture to the operatic saga of Avram -
Out of Iraq, down from Syria, into Egypt and back,
Pause in Bethel - previews of all that is to come!
Notes - www.hereticslikeuc.com
playlist_add
Jan 14, 2022
Babel - Genesis 11
One more primeval myth - one language, few words, one technological project - yech
What a relief to find varied voices and paths away from Babel!
More notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 13, 2022
Toledot of Noah's Sons - Genesis 10
'Begatitudes' of the 3 sons of Noah, from whom 'we' all come - 'us' and 'them'
This is harder than narrative - and tainted with vicious racialized readings
More notes - www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 12, 2022
Off the Ark - Genesis 09
Disembarked, Noah's clan gets a new deal with God, sealed with a bow.
Immediately, he's a drunk, and short of fratricide, we've got human family division.
More notes - www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 11, 2022
Ark Rides out the Flood
It's a full year, from rain to disembarking - how's your pandemic going?
For notes, go to www.hereticslikus.com
playlist_add
Jan 10, 2022
Riding the Ark Into the Flood - Genesis 07
The ark built, loaded, and floated - the 600 year old man takes us for a ride.
Everything else, outside the ark, drowns - check notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 9, 2022
Flood to Babel, Overture to Avram - Genesis 07-12
Listen through 6 more chapters, the second half of the primeval myths of tradition.
Compare this flood story to the dystopian movies you've seen, or the one you learned first -
Then reconsider Babel as a blessing, not a curse - and enjoy the overture to Avram's operatic saga!
playlist_add
Jan 8, 2022
Noah's Introduction
Wrapping up the degeneration of humanity from Adam onward, culminating with Marvel Comics figures, we get Noah.
You know the story - don't you? Try hearing it again, as if for the first time!
You can follow notes at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 7, 2022
Toledot of Adam - Genesis 5
You usually skip this chapter of 'begatitudes' - perhaps aware that Methusaleh is the oldest guy after Adam.
What can you hear in the recital of generations from Adam to Noah?
The paradigm of degeneration, entropy, is an alternative model to progress and regeneration. Try it on today!
You can read this stuff slower at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 6, 2022
Antediluvian Ancestors - Genesis 4
The first brothers, Kayin and Hevel, the farmer and the shepherd - and one kills the other, the murdered exiled.
You may know less of the sons of Kayin, the generations between the garden and the flood, urban and skilled subcultures.
What kind of people are we, through our ancestors? Is Naamah the wife of Noah?
Meanwhile, back on the farm, Adam and Heva have another son, Seth.
Read more at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 5, 2022
Choice and Agency - Genesis 03
The second creation story continues in the garden with the pair of humans.
What's the warning, and the consequence of choosing anyhow - is it a curse, or the blessing of fuller humanity realized?
You can listen here, and read along at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 4, 2022
Genesis 2 - Second Creation Story, of Human, Woman
Can you hear this story again as if for the first time, with the original Hebrew wordplay?
Don't try to reconcile yesterday's 'image of God, male and female', with story's hermaphrodite!
You might read along at www.hereticslikeus.com
playlist_add
Jan 3, 2022
Genesis 1 - First Creation Story
Here's the first chapter (and a bit of the second chapter) - the 6 days of creation (and the 7th, the Sabbath)
Does it sound familiar, or strange this time? Read along at www.hereticslikeus.com with NRSV text -
There's a first day, just under 10 minutes!
playlist_add
Jan 2, 2022
Creation to Ark - Genesis 01-06
It's the first Sunday of the New Year - listen to the first 6 chapters of Genesis, 34 minutes right through, with 30 seconds of intro and 9 minutes of comments at the end. These are the primeval antedeluvian myths, about our common humanity as creatures in creation. Instead of 'blood and soil' cults of competing gods and non-human alien 'Other', or social Darwinist ideologies of 'survival of the fittest', here 'toledot' frames our talk of 'us and them', among all our relations. As advertised, '30-60 minute a week'!
Too much at one sitting? Try the daily version of the same chapters, one-a-day from Monday to Saturday, with a chapter and comments, '5-10 minutes a day'.
playlist_add
Jan 1, 2022
Shaping Genesis
New Year's Day, these are some introductory comments on how we're shaping this reading of Genesis. Why 50 chapters, rather than the 12 weekly portions read in synagogues? What this 'toledot', 'generations' or 'begatitudes' stuff? What's the acronym 'JEDP' mean?
Find a bible, so you can read along as you listen, starting tomorrow, Sunday January 02, with Genesis chapters 01-06 - about 34 minutes of reading, then a few minutes of comments if you keep listening.
Starting Monday, we'll stick closer to the '5-10 minutes a day' deal, with a chapter read from Everett Fox' translation, then comments.
Go to www.hereticslikeus.com for full text, and link to this 18 minute episode - share the links with somebody who might care!
playlist_add
Dec 24, 2021
Plan for a Podcast
Heretics Like Us - www.hereticslikeus.com
We've been reading scripture, one chapter after another, for a long time. This is not academic, or bureaucratic - it's devotional, parochial. We read to inform and express our human experience. We don't stand above it, in the academy, or try to control it, in the bureaucracy. We join the chorus, finding our voice within that great choir over millennia.
5-10 minutes a day, to start or end the day, or start or end a meal, around a table or in front of a fire, this is a domestic piety of Protestant traditions. You could engage it once a week, for 30-60 minutes - a modern variation, offered here on Sundays, collecting the 6 chapters that we'll read a day at a time for the coming Monday to Saturday.
That's the plan for 2022: alternating each of the Torah, the first 5 books of the Hebrew bible, with each of the Gospels, the first 4 books of the Christian scriptures. Genesis, Matthew, Exodus, Mark, Leviticus, Luke, Numbers, John, D…
playlist_add
Nov 30, 2021
Coming in 2022 - Heretics Like Us, Podcast Version
In the beginning... it was cassette tapes, then CD's, and since 2008, www.hereticslikeus.com
It may be time to meet you where you browse - coming soon!
playlist_add