Thanks, everyone, for an engaging discussion!
One thing I learned from the posts is that the prompt needs to be changed. By asking you to give an example from a book in each section, I allowed you to be too specific about particular books rather than push you to reflect on the *sections* of the canon more broadly. The real purpose of this reflection was more “big picture”: what did you learn about these sections of the canon and how did you reflect on them? A lot of you said things about prophets that work with Hosea but not Second Isaiah; by choosing Proverbs many of you didn’t have to wrestle with Job. And I was hoping you’d bring in Ecclesiastes, per my video. I think you could have interacted with more of our class materials, such as the chart we did comparing pre-exilic and postexilic prophets on suffering.
It’s my observation that most North Americans (this class and beyond) like Proverbs, which they see as more geared to the individual and more “positive.” In my reply to Michelle’s post, I reflected on whether religious leaders really do believe that everyone can draw equally-valid conclusions about God from their own experience. Do you truly accept everything that folks claim to be true? Is that what wisdom literature is really saying? Aren’t (in Proverbs’ language) there fools in the world? How do you know the fool from the wise? Few mentioned the male privilege and cultural conservatism reflected in Proverbs. Does this book really offer much hope to slaves, women, and the poor? Which individuals does it benefit?
In your discussion of the prophets, many of you focused on the fact that they announce God’s punishment. Only a few of you (such as Kevin) explained what the people are accused of doing—in the case of Amos, the charges aren’t about proper worship. That is, what can you learn from the prophets about what God’s values are? I encourage you to think deeper about your assumption that God's anger is only a bad thing. In my book Challenging Prophetic Metaphor, I explain how I came to believe that God's anger is a reflection of God's care, even as I resist the pleasure that some prophets seem to take in describing human suffering.
Maybe a better question for me to have asked is “what would be missing if any section of the canon were taken out?” What aspects of God and faithfulness does each stress in important ways? Could you make a case for preaching from the whole canon rather than just parts of it?