Post on 03-Jan-2016
transcript
The Book of Lamentations
Introduction to Lamentations
Initial Impressions
Author
Date
Occasion
The Style of Lamentations
Poetry
Lament
Confession
Brutal Language
Multiple Voices
One Silent Voice...
The Structure of Lamentations
5 Poems
No plot or narrative flow
Chapter 3 – welcome
relief?
Chapter 5 – still nothing
from God!
Acrostics...
The Structure of Lamentations
Lam 1 Lam 2 Lam 3 Lam 4 Lam 5
Acrostic Acrostic Acrostic Acrostic No
Acrostic
22 verses
with 3
lines each
22 verses
with 3
lines each
66 verses
with 1 line
each
22 verses
with 2
lines each
22 verses
with 1 line
each
Each
verse
begins
with
acrostic
letter
Each
verse
begins
with
acrostic
letter
3 verses
per letter
Each
verse
begins
with
acrostic
letter
No
acrostic
The Structure of the 5 Poems
Why Acrostic?
Poetic Style?
Memory aid?
Symbolic of
Completeness?
Recovery of Order?
Restore some Humanity?
Why 5 poems in this order?
The Structure of the 5 Poems
The Themes of Lamentations Sin, Punishment and the Violence
of God
Suffering (Theodicy) and
Complaint (Anti-Theodicy)
Covenant and Presence
Faith, Hope and Worship
Witness and Advocacy
Suffering, Silence and
Salvation...
Early Christians didn’t seek to explain evil and suffering, at least not in the abstract,
rationalistic way of theodicists. Instead they chose to frame evil and suffering quite
differently. Their response to the problem of evil and the existence of suffering was
not to question God’s goodness, love, and power, but rather to develop faithful forms
of community within which the impact of evil and suffering could be absorbed,
resisted, and transformed as they waited for God’s return. The early Christians did
not separate the question of suffering from their calling to be people of faith.
John Swinton, Raging with Compassion