'Sightings' on WSJ headlines

Lutheran historian and theologian Martin Marty seeks perspective on our economic predicament by interleaving Wall Street Journal headlines with passages from the King James Bible.

His current Sightings column is complex, satisfying in its Psalm 146:3 warnings against "trust in princes," and offres a hopeful postscript:

Reinhold Niebuhr, in The Irony of American History, comments about Psalm 2:4's "sting of judgment upon our vanities," that "if the [divine] laughter is truly ironic it must symbolize mercy as well as judgment. For whenever judgment defines the limits of human striving it creates the possibility of an humble acceptance of those limits. Within that humility mercy and peace find a lodging place."

Read the rest here.

Inaugural Jesus

In The inaugural Jesus, Martin E. Marty writes:

We should devise some signal by which those who pray particular prayers (as I believe all are) let everyone know that while praying in their own integral style and form, they are aware and will at least implicitly assure their audiences that they are not speaking for everyone. They can then encourage others to translate what is being said into contexts they find congenial, and still share a communal experience.

Take the altogether worthwhile walk to that conclusion, starting here.