I started writing it twelve hours ago.
I have spent the majority of my day locked in my room writing this paper, and I'm not even done yet (I'm about 3/4 of the way there). Because of this, there really isn't much for me to blog about tonight.
Yet as I look back on my day, one moment does stick out. This paper I'm writing is about how texts like the Book of Joshua have been abused too often throughout history due to people not critically engaging with the text. A surface reading of Joshua reads as promoting and glorifying violence and the dispossession of indigenous people's lands. However, after spending serious time wrestling with this book today (and theoughout my studies) I've come to view the text as a criticism of the conquest narrative.
Unfortunately, my coming to this view doesn't erase the damage that Joshua's narrative has caused throughout history. I realized that a key component of my calling is to make sure that this text, or any text in the Bible for that matter, doesn't cause harm to any person or group of people in the future. The best way to do that is for me to keep working towards my education, wrestling with problematic texts, and preaching first and foremost through a lens of love, inclusion, and reconciliation.
Today, I saw God in writing a paper.
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