Comments on: What if the Bible’s Ruth Came to America Today?

By: ando

ando — Fri, 29 May 2009 00:22:37 +0000

“In ancient Israel, everyone had the right simply to walk onto a field and begin to work, begin to use the means of production of that era. And then to eat what they had gathered.”

Then why was God always so angry at the way the Israelites treated the poor? That seems to contradict Sojo's emphasis on the necessity of the coming of Jesus as the liberator of the poor (in spirit). I think Boaz was more of an exception then the rule, based on reading Isaiah and Amos. The Israelites never did carry out the year of Jubilee, and I understand that they “cheated” on the sabbath-rest for the land by renting their land out to foreigners during the seventh year.

By: Pentecost - three perspectives | Spirit of a Liberal

Pentecost - three perspectives | Spirit of a Liberal — Wed, 27 May 2009 23:48:56 +0000

[...] and wheat and God’s gift of Torah on Mt Sinai. Rabbi Arthur Waskow offers these comments on God’s Politics blog: The ancient rabbis assigned a special reading for Shavuot: the book of Ruth, which focuses on [...]

By: obholmen

obholmen — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:52:44 +0000

This post is quoted in http://www.theliberalspirit.com/?p=277. "Pentecost: three perspectives" also includes quotes from Godspace and Dignity USA.

By: 1Grace

1Grace — Wed, 27 May 2009 21:16:15 +0000

reminds me a little of a Christian movie about a theologian who writes a book about promoting morality without Christ being involved .
The year is 1890 and Carlisle has written a new manuscript entitled The Changing Times.Using a secret time machine, Anderson sends Carlisle over 100 years into the future, offering him a glimpse of where his beliefs will lead.

Arriving in the early 21st Century, Carlisle is shocked to find that half of all marriages end in divorce, teenagers talk openly about deceiving their parents, movies contain blasphemous words and people who go to church are so bored by the sermons they need extra activities. I could just think if the movie went into what politicians support and the policies that some promote as being important to get elected like abortion , changing the definition of marriage , supporting wars because of oil , or whatever . I think Ruth would have a culture shock from the many many ways our culture has changed . Would be interesting to see how the Rabbi felt about the policies and issues Ruth would have a probelm with that we all seem to just take in stride.

By: Palosaari

Palosaari — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:13:31 +0000

think there is a great need for us to figure out what gleaning means in modern, non-agrarian America. About a year ago, I came across this great book, The Year of Living Biblically. It details the experiment of a nominal Jewish man in his attempt to live just as the Bible describes for a year (8 months in the OT; 4 months in the NT). One of his approaches that I remember well is gleaning. The author decided that whenever he accidentally dropped money – coins or bills, no matter the size – he would leave it where it was dropped, for someone else to take.