Dr. Milly Erema is currently visiting the USA until November 29. While she is here, she and I will be giving talks in churches in Western Michigan. We have already given a two-week seminar at Pillar Church in Holland, Michigan called, “The Bible from an Insider’s Perspective.”
When Milly studied at Western Seminary (in Holland, MI, where I live), her professors were amazed at how she seemed to read the Bible from an insider’s perspective, because of growing up in an East African culture with traditional practices that resemble the Old Testament and Ancient Near East in many ways. Many puzzling passages make more sense in this context. (I’ve written about this elsewhere on my blog.)
Milly and I had a lively conversation about her “ancient” perspective on the Bible. We will be giving two more seminars on the same topic at area churches, which are open for anyone to attend. Please join us!
Sunday, November 5, 11:45 AM – Second Reformed Church, 225 E Central St, Zeeland, MI 49464 (Enter in the new “A” entrance in the back, off the lot on the corner of Cherry & Church streets.)
Wednesday, November 8, 6 PM – First Reformed Church, 630 State Street in Holland, MI 49423.
All who live nearby, I hope you can join us. (We’ll try to put a video link online later if we can.)
Also at the Evangelical Theological Society meeting
In San Antonio, Texas on Tuesday, November 14 at 4:30 PM, Dr. Erema will be giving an academic paper entitled,
Reading Psalm 82 from a Ugandan Cultural Perspective
Psalm 82 has been of recent interest because of Michael Heiser’s theory regarding “divine council” imagery. He sees bene elohim (“sons of gods”) as divine beings that polytheistic peoples worshiped as gods. Dr. Erema will share a contrasting interpretation based on how East African readers understand this imagery. The “sons of gods” (Ps. 82:1) are seen as human leaders who are called “gods” because their authority is seen as god-derived, as if a god speaks through their pronouncements. This interpretation accords with the many times when foreign kings claim divine status throughout the Bible. Psalm 82 rebukes these “gods” for neglecting justice for the needy and the orphan, which is the assumed responsibility of kings throughout the biblical text and in the Ancient Near East.
If you are going to the Evangelical Theological Society meeting, we hope you’ll attend. Please also let us know if you would like to connect during the other meetings in San Antonio – the Institute for Biblical Research (IBR) and Society for Biblical Literature (SBL) meetings. We’ll be there from November 13-21.
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