Furtmeyr Bible THE PURPOSE of this post is to draw attention to the Great Psalm — one of the Bible’s hidden gems — and to encourage its personal study. At 176 verses, Psalm 119 (118) is the longest psalm, with more verses than any other chapter of the Bible. Arranged in 22 sets of eight verses each, all verses within a set begin with the same consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet — aleph for the first eight verses, beth for the second eight, and so on. This has led some to mistakenly dismiss the psalm as a ancient Hebrew child’s ABC, but in fact the content is far too subtle and sublime ..read more

Beati inmaculati in via Psalm 119 (KJV) ALEPH Torah is the source of happiness to those who walk by it, [1] Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. [2] Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. [3] They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways. [4] Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. [5] O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! [6] Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments. [7] I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy ri ..read more

Art: Thomas Denny, Thomas Traherne windows (Hereford Cathedral, 2007)  SINCE the rediscovery of Thomas Traherne’s work around the turn of 20th century, there has been wide consensus that he is a significant writer. There has been less agreement, however, on why he is significant — i.e., what his main contributions, especially for present times, consist of. Somewhat unfortunately, many early commentators focused attention on his poetry, classifying him narrowly as an English metaphysical poet.  However, while his poetry is excellent, it is arguably,not quite as technically sophistic ..read more

Jacob’s Dream (detail), St. Paul’s Cathedral, Pittsburgh WHETHER they exist as metaphysical entities or not, angels are certainly psychologically real — that is, as certain inspirations, communications, subtle insights and promptings and high contemplative experiences that we consider ‘angelic.’ Angels, therefore, are, in terms of Jungian psychology, archetypally real; this is also evident from the proliferation of the angel motif in art, folklore, myth, etc. The classic treatment of angels in the Bible is the story of Jacob’s Ladder in Genesis, which Philo addressed in his work, On Dreams ..read more

FROM these visible things, therefore, one rises to consider the power, wisdom and goodness of God as existing, living, intelligent, purely spiritual, incorruptible and unchangeable.  This reflection can be extended according to the sevenfold properties of creatures — which is a sevenfold testimony to the divine power, wisdom and goodness — if we consider the origin, magnitude, multitude, beauty, fulness, activity and order of all things. 1. The origin of things, according to their creation, distinction and embellishment, as the work of the six days, proclaims the divine power ..read more

Manna, Maciejowski Bible (13th C.) PHILO here, in one of his most famous passages, gives us insight into the personal experiential basis of his exegesis of the patriarchs.  First he presents Abraham as the type of man who directs his mind away from thoughts associated with worldly and carnal concerns (Egypt) to the “father’s land” of Wisdom from which heavenly inspirations flow.  This orientation gives birth to a new disposition of mind, Isaac — whom, Philo elsewhere explains, symbolizes spiritual Joy. He then describes the nature of his own experiences, noting with regret interven ..read more

Today the Catholic Church commemorates the Apostle, ‘Doubting’ Thomas. Thomas doubted that Jesus had resurrected until he saw him and touched him in the flesh. Eventually he saw and touched Jesus, and then believed. But in response Jesus said, “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” Thomas can be interpreted allegorically as symbolizing a certain tendency of our ego to be overly rationalistic and to insist that material facts and logical proofs are the only genuine basis for belief. This doubting disposition denies the experiential reality of other valid forms of knowled ..read more