{"id":4,"date":"2010-05-28T08:22:38","date_gmt":"2010-05-28T08:22:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/what-im-reading-books-and-the-fear-of-the-lord.html"},"modified":"2010-05-28T08:22:38","modified_gmt":"2010-05-28T08:22:38","slug":"what-im-reading-books-and-the-fear-of-the-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/what-im-reading-books-and-the-fear-of-the-lord.html","title":{"rendered":"What I’m Reading: Books and “the-fear-of-the-Lord”"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"images.jpeg\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

At the moment, my bedside table is stacked high with books.
\nNovels and Memoirs: Deep Creek<\/a> by Dana Hand, Let the Great World Spin<\/a> by Colum
\nMcCann, Reading Jesus: A Writer’s Encounter with the Gospels<\/a>, by Mary Gordon…
\nPoetry: Sinners Welcome<\/a>, by Mary Karr, Otherwise<\/a> by Jane Kenyon, Theology and
\nEthics: Neither Beast nor God: The Diginity of the Human Person<\/a>, by Gilbert
\nMeilander, Theology of the Body<\/a> by Pope John Paul II (the “in simple language”
\nedition!), Family Ethics: Practices for Christians<\/a>, by Julie Hanlon Rubio, Accompany
\nThem With Singing: The Christian Funeral<\/a>, by Thomas Long… Disability: Inventing
\nthe Feeble Mind: A History of Mental Retardation in the United States<\/a> by James
\nTrent… It’s a rich and exciting list, but I’m just starting to wade in. I hope
\nI’ll get to share with you my thoughts on this stack before too long.<\/p>\n

\"51Vqeb-s7sL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg\"<\/span><\/p>\n

For now, a quick reflection from Christ Plays in Ten
\nThousand Places<\/a>, by Eugene Peterson. I haven’t come close to finishing it. But
\nevery time I pick it up, it leaves me with thoughts to chew on for many days to
\ncome. Last week, he had me musing about the self vs. the soul. This week, he’s had me thinking
\nabout the “fear of the Lord.” <\/p>\n

It’s a phrase that comes up in the Bible, and particularly
\nin the Old Testament, over and over again. I read a Psalm last summer that
\nsaid, “The Lord confides in those who fear him” (Psalm 25:14<\/a>). It puzzled me.
\nI’ve always heard that “fear of the Lord” means reverence or respect for God,
\nnot trembling-in-my-boots, but that Psalm suggested a special kind of intimacy
\nrelated to this mysterious fear. I filed it away and it popped up in my brain
\nagain when I read Peterson’s explanation of the phrase: “It is the stock
\nbiblical phrase for the way of life that is lived responsively and
\nappropriately before who God is, who he is as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” Peterson
\ngoes on to explain that in Hebrew, this words actually constitute a “bound
\nphrase”: “Its function as a single word cannot be understood by taking it apart
\nand then adding up the meanings of the parts… Fear-of-the-Lord designates a way
\nof living that cannot be dissected into two parts, any more than a baby can be
\ndissected into what comes from sperm and what comes from egg.”<\/p>\n

I’m still not sure why this concept includes “fear.” But I
\nknow that this isn’t a “get it together or something bad is going to happen” kind
\nof fear. I think it must be a posture of submission, of trusting God with my
\nwhole life, even when it doesn’t seem to be working out, even when God seems
\nabsent, even in the midst of suffering. It’s a posture that leads to intimacy: “The
\nLord confides in those who fear him.” <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the moment, my bedside table is stacked high with books. Novels and Memoirs: Deep Creek by Dana Hand, Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, Reading Jesus: A Writer’s Encounter with the Gospels, by Mary Gordon… Poetry: Sinners Welcome, by Mary Karr, Otherwise by Jane Kenyon, Theology and Ethics: Neither Beast nor God:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-what-im-reading"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat I'm Reading: Books and "the-fear-of-the-Lord" - Thin Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/what-im-reading-books-and-the-fear-of-the-lord.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What I'm Reading: Books and "the-fear-of-the-Lord" - Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At the moment, my bedside table is stacked high with books. Novels and Memoirs: Deep Creek by Dana Hand, Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, Reading Jesus: A Writer’s Encounter with the Gospels, by Mary Gordon… Poetry: Sinners Welcome, by Mary Karr, Otherwise by Jane Kenyon, Theology and Ethics: Neither Beast nor God:…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/what-im-reading-books-and-the-fear-of-the-lord.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-05-28T08:22:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/05\/images-thumb-118x118-14325.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"amyjuliabecker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What I'm Reading: Books and \"the-fear-of-the-Lord\" - Thin Places","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/what-im-reading-books-and-the-fear-of-the-lord.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What I'm Reading: Books and \"the-fear-of-the-Lord\" - Thin Places","og_description":"At the moment, my bedside table is stacked high with books. Novels and Memoirs: Deep Creek by Dana Hand, Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, Reading Jesus: A Writer’s Encounter with the Gospels, by Mary Gordon… Poetry: Sinners Welcome, by Mary Karr, Otherwise by Jane Kenyon, Theology and Ethics: Neither Beast nor God:…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/what-im-reading-books-and-the-fear-of-the-lord.html","og_site_name":"Thin Places","article_published_time":"2010-05-28T08:22:38+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/05\/images-thumb-118x118-14325.jpeg"}],"author":"amyjuliabecker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/what-im-reading-books-and-the-fear-of-the-lord.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/what-im-reading-books-and-the-fear-of-the-lord.html","name":"What I'm Reading: Books and \"the-fear-of-the-Lord\" - Thin Places","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/what-im-reading-books-and-the-fear-of-the-lord.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/what-im-reading-books-and-the-fear-of-the-lord.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/05\/images-thumb-118x118-14325.jpeg","datePublished":"2010-05-28T08:22:38+00:00","dateModified":"2010-05-28T08:22:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#\/schema\/person\/4dde10eee38770361dc9b46a9413776b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/what-im-reading-books-and-the-fear-of-the-lord.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/what-im-reading-books-and-the-fear-of-the-lord.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/what-im-reading-books-and-the-fear-of-the-lord.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/05\/images-thumb-118x118-14325.jpeg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/05\/images-thumb-118x118-14325.jpeg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/05\/what-im-reading-books-and-the-fear-of-the-lord.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What I’m Reading: Books and “the-fear-of-the-Lord”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/","name":"Thin Places","description":"Amy Julia Becker on Faith, Family, and Disability","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#\/schema\/person\/4dde10eee38770361dc9b46a9413776b","name":"amyjuliabecker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/222\/2222023dcae76abe6e896a3cf80e9836x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/222\/2222023dcae76abe6e896a3cf80e9836x96.jpg","caption":"amyjuliabecker"},"description":"Amy Julia Becker writes about theology, disability, family, and culture. Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}