A closer look at Sirach 42:13–14 shows not a hatred of women, but a sober—if jarring—warning to young men, once we read it in context and within the Church’s larger vision of Scripture.
it's tough to address these passages when the bible is approached as a series of moral statements strung together by a narrative (as I was raised to in protestant circles)
This comes at such a great time for me, as I'm reading the Wisdom of Sirach right now. We read passages from it during Holy Week in the Coptic Orthodox Church. I'm excited to tune into your in depth study on AFR!
Thanks for your insightful engagement. I totally agree—and honestly, this is a little bit along the lines of how I came to embrace these books in the first place. Once I was open to them and willing to extend the same "suspension of disbelief" that I apply to the rest of Scripture, it became clear that, for example, the fish ritual in Tobit (at the Archangel's direction) is not any stranger than a donkey turning and speaking to Balaam or the Lord providing water from a rock for his people.
it's tough to address these passages when the bible is approached as a series of moral statements strung together by a narrative (as I was raised to in protestant circles)
This comes at such a great time for me, as I'm reading the Wisdom of Sirach right now. We read passages from it during Holy Week in the Coptic Orthodox Church. I'm excited to tune into your in depth study on AFR!
I hope your study goes well! Thanks for your kind words, and I look forward to your feedback once we get into the meat of Sirach!
Thanks for your insightful engagement. I totally agree—and honestly, this is a little bit along the lines of how I came to embrace these books in the first place. Once I was open to them and willing to extend the same "suspension of disbelief" that I apply to the rest of Scripture, it became clear that, for example, the fish ritual in Tobit (at the Archangel's direction) is not any stranger than a donkey turning and speaking to Balaam or the Lord providing water from a rock for his people.