Hope

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

Page 148 of 216 · 20 per page

• From Understanding the Old Testament (2019)

  leCtUre 17 | Jeremiah, PerseCUted ProPhet 107 After Jehoiakim When Jehoiakim died, he was succeeded by other anti-Babylonian kings. The first was Jehoiachin, who reigned for three months in the year 597. From that short period, we have Jeremiah’s powerful temple sermon in chapter 7, which was against empty, false worship as well as idolatry, injustice, and why empty rituals don’t make up for those sins. This occurred only a generation after a thorough reform undertaken by King Josiah, who cleaned all sorts of idolatrous installations out of the temple. It appears that Josiah’s reform produced only superficial results. The Confessions of Jeremiah This lecture now turns to what the scholar Walter Baumgartner identified as the confessions of Jeremiah. These are insights into Jeremiah that he reveals when he is alone with God. There are six of them. Each has four parts: an invocation of God, quotation of the speech of Jeremiah’s enemies, a declaration of innocence, and a request for vengeance. They’re found in chapters 11, 12, 15, 17, 18, and 20. The one in chapter 20 reveals Jeremiah is mad at God. He feels used, at first complaining about jeers from others. However, the mood later changes, and Jeremiah moves from despair to determination. The Second Theme In 597 BCE, Jerusalem was conquered, and 10,000 captives were taken to Babylon. The last king of Judah, Zedekiah, ruled from 596 to 586. Almost immediately, he rebelled against Babylon, who were soon at the gates. Jeremiah’s advice, recorded in chapter 21, is to surrender. That’s treason; Jeremiah appears to be giving solace to the enemy. There is an attempt on Jeremiah’s life in chapter 38 by the court officials, even though Zedekiah continues to meet with Jeremiah. During the long siege of 587, there is an emphasis on hope, tying in with the second theme of building and planting. Part of this hope is theological. Chapters 30–32 contain the largest concentration of the phrase “You will be my people and I will be your God” anywhere in the Old Testament. This is what scholars call the covenant formula. Understanding the old testament 108 This new covenant should not be thought of in the Christian sense that Paul writes about in the New Testament. The issue is not that the old covenant was about a law, and the new covenant lacks law. The distinction is the location of the law. In other words, it is not an external law to obey but an internal law—a moral compass. Jeremiah

• From Girls & Sex (2016)

  The girls watching the video giggled and occasionally gasped in shock. Weirdly, though, I found myself agreeing with Stenzel, if not with her conclusions or her effort to shame and terrorize her audience. Our definition of “sex” is too narrow. I realize that it’s idealistic to call for a dismantling of virginity for the sake of girls’ health, but even questioning the implications of our assumptions about it has value. It is worth asking how putting this one act into a separate category is keeping girls (and boys) safer from disease, coercion, betrayal, assault; whether it gives them more control over their sexual experience; whether it encourages mutuality and caring; how it affects their perception of other kinds of sexual interactions; what it means for gay teens, who can have multiple sex partners without heterosexual intercourse. Again, this is not because that form of intercourse is no big deal, but because it’s not the only big deal. I’d rather young people think of sex more horizontally, as Dennis Fortenberry suggested, as a way to explore intimacy and pleasure, than as this misguided vertical race to a goal. What if your first kiss were a form of virginity loss? The first time you had oral sex? What if it was first love? What if, as Jessica Valenti suggests in The Purity Myth, a girl didn’t lose her virginity until she’d had her first orgasm with a partner? Before leaving Christina and her friends, I asked how she would raise her own daughter if she had one. She pondered that for a moment. “There are huge holes in my sex education that I can’t ignore,” she finally said, “but at the risk of losing the other lessons that benefited me, I wouldn’t wish to have done it differently. Still, I really want to have a more open discussion with my children. I can’t quite imagine being at a level of saying, ‘Okay, so this is what your clitoris is,’ but then again, I’d want that for them if that would make them more comfortable in the world. “I guess I would have to tell my daughter, ‘It’s totally your decision,’” she continued. “‘It’s whatever you feel comfortable with. But you have to be safe: there are these bad things that can happen in sex, but there are also benefits.’ I would have to tell her, ‘It’s very much up to you and how you feel.’ Because I think, in the end, it is the most personal of all decisions.”

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  24 “If Your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this house, 25 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them again to the land which You gave to them and to their fathers. 26 “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin when You afflict and humble them; 27 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and Your people Israel, indeed, teach them the good way in which they should walk. And send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance. 28 “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, if there are [migratory] locusts or grasshoppers, if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there is, 29 then whatever prayer or request is made by any man or all of Your people Israel, each knowing his own suffering and his own pain, and stretching out his hands toward this house, 30 then hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and forgive, and render to each c in accordance with all his ways, whose heart You know; for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men, 31 so that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways [in obedience to You] as long as they live in the land which You have given to our fathers. 32 “Also in regard to the foreigner who is not from Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for the sake of Your great name and Your mighty power and Your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this house, 33 then hear from heaven, from Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, so that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, and fear You [reverently and worshipfully], as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by Your Name. 34 “When Your people go out to war against their enemies, by the way that You send them, and they pray to You facing this city [Jerusalem] which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your Name, 35 then hear from heaven their prayer and their request, and maintain their cause and do justice.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  9 “For this is like the waters of Noah to Me, As I swore [an oath] that the waters of Noah Would not flood the earth again; In the same way I have sworn that I will not be angry with you Nor will I rebuke you. 10 “For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, Nor will My covenant of peace be shaken,” Says the LORD who has compassion on you. 11 “O you afflicted [city], storm-tossed, and not comforted, Listen carefully, I will set your [precious] stones in mortar, And lay your foundations with sapphires. 12 “And I will make your battlements of rubies, And your gates of [shining] beryl stones, And all your [barrier] a walls of precious stones. [Rev 21:19–21 ] 13 “And all your [spiritual] sons will be disciples [of the LORD ], And great will be the b well-being of your sons. [John 6:45 ] 14 “You will be firmly established in righteousness: You will be far from [even the thought of] oppression, for you will not fear, And from terror, for it will not come near you. 15 “If anyone fiercely attacks you it will not be from Me. Whoever attacks you will fall because of you. 16 “Listen carefully, I have created the smith who blows on the fire of coals And who produces a weapon for its purpose; And I have created the destroyer to inflict ruin. 17 “No weapon that is formed against you will succeed; And every tongue that rises against you in judgment you will condemn. This [peace, righteousness, security, and triumph over opposition] is the heritage of the servants of the LORD , And this is their vindication from Me,” says the LORD . Isaiah 55 The Free Offer of Mercy 1 “E VERYONE WHO thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy grain and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost [simply accept it as a gift from God]. [Rev 21:6 , 7 ; 22:17 ] 2 “Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, And your earnings for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight in a abundance. [Jer 31:12–14 ] 3 “Incline your ear [to listen] and come to Me; Hear, so that your soul may live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful mercies [promised and] shown to David. [2 Sam 7:8–16 ; Acts 13:34 ; Heb 13:20 ] 4 “Listen carefully, I have appointed b him [David, representing the Messiah] to be a witness to the nations [regarding salvation], A leader and commander to the peoples.

• From Unbought and Unbossed: Transgressive Black Women, Sexuality, and Representation (2014)

  While the community, that is, did not violate Lorraine directly, the gestures they did attempt to make were far from comprehensive, effective, or corrective of the hostility toward same-sex desire. To this end, their efforts, much like the wall on Brewster Place, were dead-end and futile. Moreover, that wallthat physical and metaphorical impediment-becomes emblematic, as Naylor illumines, of the ways in which certain politics governing race, particularly where gender and sexuality are concerned, impede communal progress. When the women of Brewster Place bond together to tear down the wall, even if the reader later learns it transpires in a dream, it is representative of hope, transformation, and the liberatory possibilities that, with action and agency, could become a (communal) reality. [image file=img/page0207_0000.svg] Unbought and Unbossed is an integrative project-a locus in which black women's literary and cultural production, movement ideologies, and the politics of identity and representation converge, providing an interdisciplinary and broad discursive framework for analyzing these complex issues. What this study has endeavored to examine are deliberate enactments of transgressive behavior that exceed the boundaries governing race, gender, and sexuality, while challenging concomitantly the fundamental categories governing established normativity and politics of identity. The goal of this book has, in part, been twofold: to illuminate these dynamics and how they are engaged and inscribed in post-civil rights black women's literary and cultural production, wherein black women claim a right to subjectivity unencumbered by circumscriptions and other limitations placed on black womanhood. And, second, to provide a historical context for "transgressive" behavior and, in turn, racialized transgression, where black women particularly and black people generally are concerned. Instead of locating black female sexuality within particular confines, whereby it is relegated to the manacles of stereotypes, mythologies, and pathologies, Unbought and Unbossed has endeavored to illumine, instead, the ways in which these black women, be they authors, characters, or black women at large, have not fought for the right to be anomalous or aberrant. Rather, they have resisted these designations, exercising the right to not only claim their identities and the politics accompanying those choices, but also to simply exist-participating in behavior that reflects the realm and complexities of humanity, existential experiences, and sexual citizenship.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, And My chosen [people] will fully enjoy [and long make use of] the work of their hands. 23 “They will not labor in vain, Or bear children for disaster; For they are the descendants of those blessed by the LORD , And their offspring with them. 24 “It shall also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. [Is 30:19 ; 58:9 ; Matt 6:8 ] 25 “The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox [there will no longer be predator and prey]; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain (Zion),” says the LORD . Isaiah 66 Heaven Is God’s Throne 1 T HIS IS what the LORD says, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where, then, is a house that you could build for Me? And where will My resting place be? [Acts 17:24 ] 2 “For all these things My hand has made, So all these things came into being [by and for Me],” declares the LORD . “But to this one I will look [graciously], To him who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who [reverently] trembles at My word and honors My commands. [John 4:24 ] Hypocrisy Rebuked 3 “He who kills an ox [for pagan sacrifice] is [as guilty] as one who kills a man; He who sacrifices a lamb, as one who breaks a dog’s neck; He who offers a grain offering, as one who offers swine’s blood; He who offers incense, as one who blesses an idol. Such people have chosen their own ways, And their soul delights in their repulsive acts; 4 So I will choose their punishments, And will bring the things they dread upon them Because I called, but no one answered; I spoke, but they did not listen or obey. But they did evil in My sight And chose that in which I did not delight.” 5 Hear the word of the LORD , you who tremble [with awe-filled reverence] at His word: “Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for My Name’s sake, Have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy.’ But they will be put to shame. 6 “The sound of an uproar from the city! A voice from the temple! The voice of the LORD , providing retribution to His enemies. 7 “Before she (Zion) was in labor, she gave birth; Before her labor pain came, she gave birth to a boy. 8 “Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land a be born in one day? Or can a nation be brought forth in a moment? As soon as Zion was in labor, she also brought forth her sons.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  And do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand, there is no one able to take a stand against You. 7 “O our God, did You not drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Your friend Abraham? 8 “They have lived in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your Name, saying, 9 ‘If evil comes on us, or the sword of judgment, or plague, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You (for Your Name and Your Presence is in this house) and we will cry out to You in our distress, and You will hear and save us.’ 10 “Now behold, the sons of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom You would not allow Israel to invade when they came from the land of Egypt (for they turned away from them and did not destroy them), [Deut 2:9 ] 11 here they are, rewarding us by coming to drive us out of Your possession which You have given us as an inheritance. 12 “O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless against this great multitude which is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You.” 13 So all Judah stood before the LORD , with their infants, their wives, and their children. Jahaziel Answers the Prayer 14 Then in the midst of the assembly the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph. 15 He said, “Listen carefully, all [you people of] Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat. The LORD says this to you: ‘Be not afraid or dismayed at this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16 ‘Go down against them tomorrow. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the river valley, in front of the Wilderness of Jeruel. 17 ‘You need not fight in this battle; take your positions, stand and witness the salvation of the LORD who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you.’ ” 18 Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD , worshiping Him. 19 The Levites, from the sons of the Kohathites and the sons of the Korahites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

• From Vox (1992)

  164 "Not nearly enough. I—" "Yes?" she said. "Do you think our . . . wires will cross again?" "I don't know. I don't know. What do you think?" "I could give you my number," he said. "I mean if you still want it. I'll avoid a possibly awkward moment by not asking for yours. Or we could meet out here again, if you'd rather do that. " "Out here under the stars? I can't afford it. Where's a pencil? Ah, a nice blunt pencil. Tell me your number." He told her. She read it back to him. "Call me soon," he said. "In fact, call me in a few hours, after you've topped yourself off in the shower." "You know me too well." "I like you a lot." "I wonder what you look like," she said. "Surprisingly normal. Maybe someday you'll know." "It's a possibility." "We'd probably be a little nervous at first, if we met. But then ..." "Then we'd start masturbating like ferrets," she said, "and that would quickly break the ice." "That's right. I hope you will call. You remember I have this pair of cotton pointelle tights. Unopened." "Size small?" "Size small. In faun. Put Leona to work, get those legs waxed, I'm on my way. No. But call me soon. Soon soon soon. I hope you will." 165 "All right," she said. "Let me think about things. Let me absorb the strangeness." "What's strange?" "Nothing," she said. "I guess nothing. I think I should probably sign off now, though. I have to put a load of towels in the laundry." "Certainly. Okay. Thank you for calling this num ber." "Thank you. Bye Jim." "Bye Abby. Bye." They hung up. About the Author NICHOLSON BAKER was born in 1957. He has published two previous novels, The Mezzanine (1988) and Room Tempera ture (1990), and a work of autobiographical criticism entitled V and I (1991). He has written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Esquire. He lives with his wife and child in upstate New York.

• From The Decameron (1353)

  "It is a seemly thing, dearest ladies, that whatsoever a man doth, he give it beginning from the holy and admirable name of Him who is the maker of all things. Wherefore, it behoving me, as the first, to give commencement to our story-telling, I purpose to begin with one of His marvels, to the end that, this being heard, our hope in Him, as in a thing immutable, may be confirmed and His name be ever praised of us. It is manifest that, like as things temporal are all transitory and mortal, even so both within and without are they full of annoy and anguish and travail and subject to infinite perils, against which it is indubitable that we, who live enmingled therein and who are indeed part and parcel thereof, might avail neither to endure nor to defend ourselves, except God's especial grace lent us strength and foresight; which latter, it is not to be believed, descendeth unto us and upon us by any merit of our own, but of the proper motion of His own benignity and the efficacy of the prayers of those who were mortals even as we are and having diligently ensued His commandments, what while they were on life, are now with Him become eternal and blessed and unto whom we,--belike not daring to address ourselves unto the proper presence of so august a judge,--proffer our petitions of the things which we deem needful unto ourselves, as unto advocates[29] informed by experience of our frailty. And this more we discern in Him, full as He is of compassionate liberality towards us, that, whereas it chanceth whiles (the keenness of mortal eyes availing not in any wise to penetrate the secrets of the Divine intent), that we peradventure, beguiled by report, make such an one our advocate unto His majesty, who is outcast from His presence with an eternal banishment,--nevertheless He, from whom nothing is hidden, having regard rather to the purity of the suppliant's intent than to his ignorance or to the reprobate estate of him whose intercession be invoketh, giveth ear unto those who pray unto the latter, as if he were in very deed blessed in His aspect. The which will manifestly appear from the story which I purpose to relate; I say manifestly, ensuing, not the judgment of God, but that of men. [Footnote 29: Or procurators.]

• From The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Vol. 4: Reformation of Church and Dogma (1300-1700) (1984)

  There is a surprising amount of such language in the treatises that have survived, and some reason to believe that even these do not indicate how much apocalypticism actually surged within the Christian community. The Shepherd of Her- mas was regarded by Irenaeus as canonical, by others as dubious, and by Tertullian (in successive periods of his life) as both. Its christology was vague at best, heretical at worst. Nevertheless, it was preserved—and in no less THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH CATHOLIC 126 Herm.Sim.9.5.82 (SC 53:298-300) Herm.F/j.5.7.25 (SC 53:142-44) Const. App. 7.26.5 (Funk 414) Wetter (1921) 1:21 Matt.26:29 a.p.Did.To.6 (Bihlmeyer 6) prestigious a matrix than the Codex Sinaiticus of the Bible. The author (or authors) of the Shepherd used the format of an apocalyptic summons to call the readers to repentance. The vividness of its eschatological language is exceeded only by the decisiveness of its plea. The Lord had not yet returned, and therefore the work of judgment was not yet complete; but it would soon be finished, and then the consummation would come. The doctrinal aber rations in the apocalypses that have been preserved must not be permitted to obscure the evidence they supply about the faith and hope of people who were innocent of any heresy. The impression seems unavoidable that the relation between "already" and "not yet" in Christian apocalyptic raised more problems for philosophical the ologians in the early church and for the proponents of "consistent eschatology" among modern exegetes than it did for believers and worshipers in the second and the third century. That impression is corroborated by the references to the "coming" of Christ in the scraps of early liturgies that have come down to us. For example, the Benedictus of Matthew 2119 was clearly an affirmation of the coming of the end with the promised arrival of the messianic kingdom. But at least as early as the Apostolic Constitu tions, and presumably earlier, the liturgical practice of the church employed these same words to salute either the celebrant or the eucharistic presence. For, as Wetter has pointed out in commenting on the prayers of the early liturgies for the "coming" of Christ in the Eucharist, "it is interesting to observe how the epiphany in the cultus is practically amalgamated with the eschatologically oriented parousia. . . . This is evidence how these ideas, too, are connected with primitive Christian belief and perhaps developed from it."

• From Unbought and Unbossed: Transgressive Black Women, Sexuality, and Representation (2014)

  Such statistics, however, necessitated calibration around the issue of frequency given that, while engaging in premarital sex at higher rates, black college students were less engaged than whites in one-night stands, but rather were in longer-term committed relationships wherein sex was more frequently involved. All in all, Staples's research indicated that black sexuality was neither outside the realm of "normalcy" nor hyperpuritanical. In response to his initial query, "Has the sexual revolution bypassed blacks?," the answer was relative and contingent on "which feature of the Sexual Revolution we mean and which segment of the black community we are talking about. The most reasonable answer" appears "to be that some blacks have been passed by, others are catching up and a significant number are today just as sexually together as they have always been."52 Within the black community, sexual expression was not monolithic, practiced and experienced unilaterally, but instead black people negotiated their sexuality and its politics in ways that were not quintessentially aberrant or racially/communally disintegrating, although sexual stereotypes, The Moynihan Report, or skewed general public opinions would suggest otherwise. To further complicate this point, Staples discusses black male homosexuality; and, even though his treatment of it is, at times, problematic-in his depiction of it as a circumstantial response to black female-headed households, black male incarceration, or the general castration of black men in society as a whole-he nonetheless acknowledges its presence in black communities and the United States in ways that do not deracialize (or characterize as "nonblack") homosexuality and same-sex desire. [image file=img/img0003.jpg] FIGURE 1.2 Billy Dee Williams featured on the cover of Ebony, April 1974, with a headliner on the Sexual Revolution. (Courtesy of Johnson Publishing Company, LLC. All rights reserved.) The sexual revolution also had positive and liberatory ramifications for women: freeing them from patriarchal limitations and "the restraints of a male-dominated value system that defined sexual pleasure as an exclusively male prerogative," a point that black feminist scholar-activist Toni Cade (Bambara) elaborates.53 In her 1969 manifesto "The Pill: Genocide or Liberation?"-reflective of her ineffable, mutually inclusive commitment to black nationalist and women's liberation struggles-Cade illuminates the intersections of the two movements, as well as the extent to which they should not be deemed isolated or mutually exclusive within the black community. While she recognizes the "rearing of warriors for the revolution" as a "noble thing," she dismisses the notion that doing so entails "dumping the [birth control] pill": The pill gives the woman, as well as the man, some control. [...] And after all, it's through the fashioning of new relationships that we will obliterate the corrosive system of dominance, manipulation, exploitation. [...] On the other hand, I would never agree that the pill really liberates women. It only helps. It may liberate her sexually (assuming that we don't mean mutually exploitative when we yell "sexual equality"), but what good is that if in other respects her social role remains the same?14

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  15 “But God saves [the innocent] from the sword of the mouth of the devious, And the poor from the hand of the mighty. 16 “So the helpless have hope, And injustice shuts its mouth. 17 “Behold, how happy and fortunate is the man whom God reproves, So do not despise or reject the discipline of the Almighty [subjecting you to trial and suffering]. 18 “For He inflicts pain, but He binds up and gives relief; He wounds, but His hands also heal. 19 “He will rescue you from six troubles; Even in seven, evil will not touch you. 20 “In famine He will redeem you from death, And in war from the power of the sword. 21 “You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, And you will not be afraid of destruction when it comes. 22 “You will laugh at violence and famine, And you will not be afraid of the wild beasts of the earth. 23 “For you will be in harmony with the stones of the field, And the beasts of the field will be at peace with you. 24 “You will know also that your tent is secure and at peace, And you will visit your dwelling and fear no loss [nor find anything amiss]. 25 “You will know also that your descendants will be many, And your offspring as the grass of the earth. 26 “You will come to your grave in old age, Like the stacking of grain [on the threshing floor] in its season. 27 “Behold this; we have investigated it, and it is true. Hear and heed it, and know for yourself [for your own good].” Job 6 Job’s Friends Are No Help 1 T HEN JOB answered and said, 2 “Oh, that my grief could actually be weighed And placed in the balances together with my tragedy [to see if my grief is the grief of a coward]! 3 “For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; Therefore my words have been incoherent, 4 Because the arrows of the Almighty are within me, My spirit drinks their poison; The terrors of God are arrayed against me. 5 “Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or does the ox low over his fodder? 6 “Can something that has no taste to it be eaten without salt? Or is there any flavor in the white of an egg? 7 “My soul refuses to touch them; Such things are like loathsome food to me [sickening and repugnant]. 8 “Oh that my request would come to pass, And that God would grant me the thing that I long for! 9 “I wish that it would please God to crush me, That He would let loose His hand and cut me off. 10 “Then I would still have consolation, And I would jump for joy amid unsparing pain, That I have not denied or hidden the words of the Holy One.

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  The Epistle to the Hebrews is not an ordinary letter. It has, indeed, the direct personal appeals, closing messages, and salutations of a letter; but it is more, it is a homily, or rather a theological discourse, aiming to strengthen the readers in their Christian faith, and to protect them against the danger of apostasy from Christianity. It is a profound argument for the superiority of Christ over the angels, over Moses, and over the Levitical priesthood, and for the finality of the second covenant. It unfolds far more fully than any other book the great idea of the eternal priesthood and sacrifice of Christ, offered once and forever for the redemption of the world, as distinct from the national and transient character of the Mosaic priesthood and the ever-repeated sacrifices of the Tabernacle and the Temple. The author draws his arguments from the Old Testament itself, showing that, by its whole character and express declarations, it is a preparatory dispensation for the gospel salvation, a significant type and prophecy of Christianity, and hence destined to pass away like a transient shadow of the abiding substance. He implies that the Mosaic oeconomy was still existing, with its priests and daily sacrifices, but in process of decay, and looks forward to the fearful judgment which a few years, afterward destroyed the Temple forever.1212 He interweaves pathetic admonitions and precious consolations with doctrinal expositions, and every exhortation leads him to a new exposition. Paul puts the hortatory part usually at the end. The author undoubtedly belonged to the Pauline school, which emphasized the great distinction between the Old and the New Covenant; while yet fully acknowledging the divine origin and paedagogic use of the former. But he brings out the superiority of Christ’s priesthood and sacrifice to the Mosaic priesthood and sacrifice; while Paul dwells mainly on the distinction between the law and the gospel. He lays chief stress on faith, but he presents it in its general aspect as trust in God, in its prospective reference to the future and invisible, and in its connection with hope and perseverance under suffering; while Paul describes faith, in its specific evangelical character, as a hearty trust in Christ and his atoning merits, and in its justifying effect, in opposition to legalistic reliance on works. Faith is defined, or at least described, as "assurance (uJpovstasi") of things hoped for, a conviction (e[legco") of things not seen" (11:1). This applies to the Old Testament as well as the New, and hence appropriately opens the catalogue of patriarchs and prophets, who encourage Christian believers in their conflict; but they are to look still more to Jesus as "the author and perfecter of our faith" (12:2), who is, after all, the unchanging object of our faith, "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever" (13:8).

• From Vox (1992)

  35 "On the other hand," she said, "if you own the tape, you show you've got some self-knowledge: you know what you like, you know how to make yourself happy, you're not just wandering in this welter of chance occurrences, passively hoping the disk jockey will come through. Maybe when you're a little kid you find yourself out on a balcony in the sun and you think, My oh my, this feels unexpectedly nice. But later on you think, I know that I will feel a particular kind of pleasure if I walk out onto this balcony and sit in that chair, and I wish to experi ence that pleasure now. " "Well, right, and so the reason I called this line was that the pleasures I'd sought out weren't doing it for me and there was this hope of luck, that I, that there would be a conversation ..." "You never said what it was about the Disney Tinker Bell exactly, at the video store." "Well, in the scene I saw, and this is the first time I've seen any of this particular Disney by the way, and you have to remember that I'm in an altered state there in the movie store, with my three orange movies and my men's magazine in my briefcase, but in the scene, Tinker Bell zips around in a sprightly way, with lots of zings of the xylophone and little sparkly stars trailing her flight, and you think, right, typical fairy image, ho hum. And she's tiny, she's a tiny suburbanite, she's about five inches tall. This insubstantial, magical, cutely Walt Disneyish woman. But then this thing happens. She pauses in mid-

• From Girls & Sex (2016)

  That’s right. Denison just encouraged teenage girls to masturbate, and she did it in front of teenage boys. She told the whole class not only that girls have clitorises but what those organs are for—the only thing that they are for: to make them feel good. And that, in the annals of American sex education, is nearly unheard of. Denison doesn’t call herself a sex educator, though. She sees herself as a “youth advocate,” providing accurate information and a nonjudgmental forum in which kids can discuss sex and substance use along with larger ideas of ethics and social justice. She travels to high school communities across California—most, given her frank approach, are private like this one, though an increasing number are public—visiting each class several times a year, building cumulatively on what came before. Her curriculum incorporates decision making, assertiveness skills, sexual consent, personal responsibility, gender roles, and the diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity. But “my job,” as she told today’s tenth-graders, “my whole job is to help you make as many decisions as possible that end in joy and honor rather than regret, guilt, or shame.” Denison talks about risk and danger in her classes (though she doesn’t necessarily use that language). She addresses anatomy and contraception, if those aren’t part of students’ regular health curriculum. By graduation, even if her students plan to stay abstinent until marriage (“which is awesome!”) or will never have sex with a man, she expects them, nonetheless, to be able to put on a condom, “drunk, dizzy, and in the dark.” She also talks about something usually omitted in the parental “talk” and by the football coaches who, inexplicably, teach “health”: sexual activity should be a source of pleasure for teenagers. Not only is hers a more honest perspective, but she believes (and research confirms) that it is ultimately the most effective strategy for reducing risk. “To some parents in school communities, that doesn’t sound right,” Denison told me, “but it is right. [Teens] abstain with more information because they have options, because they have knowledge, because they have alternatives. It’s so clear to me that in this area the less specific and the less open we are, the more and more at risk we’re putting these kids—especially girls.”

• From Unbought and Unbossed: Transgressive Black Women, Sexuality, and Representation (2014)

  Pat Parker, in Movement in Black (1978), critiques the compartmentalization of identities, namely race and sexual orientation, as well as the exclusive politics in black and homosexual communities; and she addresses the ways that black sexual minorities are almost inevitably "othered" and displaced, either because of their race or sexual orientation, in black and gay communities: If I could take all my parts with me when I go somewhere, and not have to say to one of them, "No, you stay home tonight, you won't be welcome," because I'm going to an all-white party where I can be gay, but not Black. Or I'm going to a Black poetry reading, and half the poets are antihomosexual, or thousands of situations where something of what I am cannot come with me. The day all the different parts of me can come along, we would have what I would call a revolution." While Parker critiques structures that demand and perpetuate the compartmentalizing of black sexual minorities' multiple consciousnesses or identities, she, perhaps most significantly, calls critical attention to the revolutionary possibilities of a simultaneous racial and (homo)sexual identity. It is, in fact, precisely this revolutionary notion of foregrounding racial and sexual identities concomitantly-rather than negating or situating them within hierarchical or diametrically oppositional categories-that accounts, in part, for the relatively under-considered discourse on same-gender loving. As a concept, same-gender loving materialized in the early 199os as a conduit for black sexual minorities-black women who love women (sexually and emotionally) and black men who love men (sexually and emotionally)-to express their sexuality in ways that resonate with the distinctiveness of black culture and life. Coined by activist Cleo Manago as a culturally affirming designation for black and "sexual minorities" of color, samegender loving, unlike the black and gay liberation movements and discourses, is dialogic: attentive to both the intersectionality and inseparability of racial and sexual identities. It does not marginalize individuals or demand the prioritization of either racial or sexual identity but provides a space for black sexual minorities to celebrate the totality of their experiences, struggles, multiple identities, and subject positions. While same-gender loving does not eradicate the pervasive homophobia, heterosexism, or racism in American society and culture, it challenges these oppressive forces and thereby serves as a pragmatic and ideological site of resistance. Forcing the black community to acknowledge the multiple and diverse ways of loving and sexuality, it allows for a more complex and inclusive self-definition of black sexuality. Moreover, it also challenges the ethnic invisibility, as well as the inscribed "whiteness," that gay and lesbian discourses and queer theory largely produce." The motivation of the same-gender loving movement, then, is to meet particular exigencies:

• From Unbought and Unbossed: Transgressive Black Women, Sexuality, and Representation (2014)

  The significance of their interracial intimacy also lies in its transformative potentiality and symbolic import, particularly where race, blackness, and political longing are concerned, wherein the racial integration that occurs consensually within the bedroom operates, to return to my previous premise, as an enactment of larger racial aspirations. In this case, not only for a more complex construction of black identity outside its strategic deployments within the uplift paradigm that relies on respectability and repression, but also as a suppression of racialized (gendered) sexuality. Here, consensual interracial sexual intimacy and the sex act are not marked by nor do they elicit violence (against, as has historically been the case from the antebellum period throughout Jim Crow, black female and male bodies). As such, they are representative of racial progress (or a desire thereof): emblematic of what the extension of full civil rights to blacks (all humans), regardless of skin color, race/ ethnicity, or phenotype, might produce: harmonious bonding, literary and figuratively, instead of violent or racially hegemonic (and unequal) confrontation. As literary and sexuality studies scholar Aliyyah Abdur-Rahman illustrates in a poignant assessment and cogent analysis of the nexus of interracial sexual intimacy, politics of race, and political longing, "Cross-racial love engages with the civil rights agenda" in that it "grants African Americans the power of choice in sexual matters across the racial boundary"; and literary charactizations of "cross-racial longing often take seriously the transformative power of interpersonal connectivity to foster ethical citizenship"-or, that is, the potential of "transforming felt desire of sexual intrigue into a broader political vision and enactment of social and racial equality."42

• From Unbought and Unbossed: Transgressive Black Women, Sexuality, and Representation (2014)

  What I would like to conclude with is a consideration of representations, as they intersect with race, gender, and sexuality, and as they manifest in the contemporary cultural moment. While this project elucidates instantiations of racialized gender transgression of the post-civil rights era, particularly during the interregnum period of the 1970s and i98os, in what ways might correlations be made-and what are the implications and manifestations of these dynamics-to the contemporary cultural imagination where black womanhood is concerned? In this concluding moment, in these final thoughts, then, I contemplate the significance of the current temporal, sociopolitical moment-one in which we have our first-known African American First Lady of the United States of America: Michelle Obama. Not only does this lend itself to celebration, especially in terms of her very public presence, posture, and positionality, but it also offers a fundamental basis that complicates historical sensibilities and understandings, as well as representations of black womanhood as they operate in the American literary, cultural, and political imagination.

• From Girls & Sex (2016)

  Denison answered them matter-of-factly, dispensing facts and correcting myths—including that “everyone” is “doing it.” “There’s such a perception that everyone is having sex and hooking up,” she said, responding to a ninth-grader’s concerns, “and that is just not the case. There is such pressure and it’s just not that common, especially in ninth grade. There’s plenty of people who don’t even have their first kiss until at least sophomore year, much less go beyond that. So this notion that someone needs to hook up because it’s ‘time’?” She shook her head. “We have to really work on that. We have to get back to this idea of ‘What am I actually feeling, what do I think about it, what do I want to have happen, and how can I look back without regret?’” At the same time, she offered this to an eleventh-grader whose friend was having sex with many different people. “Your response doesn’t have to be ‘That’s gross’ or ‘That’s good’ or ‘That’s bad.’ You can ask, ‘How did that feel to you? What does it bring you? How does it serve you?’ Approached in the right way, that can be a great conversation. Then, if you really care about that person, your job is to be their human shield from shame.” There were times, listening to Denison answer those anonymous questions, that I felt a little uncertain. Like when someone in an eleventh-grade class asked how to have intercourse in a way that wouldn’t hurt his partner. She talked about easing the penis in and out of the vagina gradually, rather than doing the porn-inspired jack hammer thrust, allowing a girl’s body time to acclimate. She suggested a boy could shift his weight so he wasn’t always bashing into the same spot, and could “empower” a female partner to grab his hips to control the depth of the penetration. There was no denying it: she was explaining how to have sex. It was the worst nightmare of conservative policy makers realized. Yet this is exactly the kind of discussion that, if Holland is any indication, is needed to combat the pop porn culture, reduce regret, and improve teens’ satisfaction when they do choose to have sex (whenever that may be). So what about it makes me cringe? Surely, I’d rather have a daughter in bed with a boy who had a question like this asked and answered than one whose only point of reference was what he’d seen on the Internet. “I am not telling them what to do,” Denison would explain to me later. “I am responding to a direct question—one that I get ninety-nine percent of the time, by the way—that rises from a student’s respect and sense of accountability to both himself and his partner. If I didn’t answer specifically, I’d be a fake, just another adult testing their trust.” To the class, she concluded with “It’s all about communication.” And of course she was right.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  20 “If you do abandon (reject) the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume and destroy you after He has done you good.” 21 The people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve [only] the LORD .” 22 Joshua then said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the LORD , to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” 23 “Now then, remove the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your hearts toward the LORD , the God of Israel.” 24 The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and we will listen to and obey His voice.” 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance at Shechem. 26 And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was in [the courtyard of] the sanctuary of the LORD . 27 Joshua then said to all the people, “Look, this stone shall serve as a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke to us; so it shall be a witness against you, so that [afterward] you do not deny your God.” 28 Then Joshua sent the people away, each to [the territory of] his inheritance. Joshua’s Death and Burial 29 It happened after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD , died, at the age of a hundred and ten years. 30 They buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash. 31 Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, and had known all the works of the LORD which He had done for Israel. 32 Now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the plot of land which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money; and it became the inheritance of the sons of Joseph. 33 And Eleazar [the priest], the son of Aaron died; and they buried him at Gibeah [on the hill] of Phinehas his son, which had been given to him in the hill country of Ephraim. Joshua 1 a 1:2 The Hebrew verb “arise” is an instruction to get ready to fulfill a command, somewhat similar to the military command “attention.” b 1:2 In general, sons (children) of Israel or Israel or Israelites refers to all the people (males and females) of the various tribes descended from the twelve sons (Gen 35:23–26 ) of Jacob (later renamed Israel by God).