How to use Preaching Peace

Now that you've found us, how do you find what you want? We hope this'll make things simpler.

Most of our users come to look at our reflections on a given Sunday's lections. We use the Revised Common Lectionary texts, as they are the most widely used. The menu for different Sundays is located in the light blue bar at the top of the page. Each season of the Church Year has a menu list. Click that arrow to display the list of Sundays and holidays for that season, then click the day you want to study. The page for that set of propers will open.

Once you've found the propers you want to read about, there are basically three sections to each page. The sections can be displayed by clicking the appropriate button on the left-hand navigation bar.

"Anthropological Reading" is the primary reflection for each Sunday. It is our interpretation of the Gospel reading (In future years we'll add reflections on the other readings.) using Rene Girard's "Mimetic Theory" as our primary hermeneutical tool.

"Historical/Cultural Questions" is where Michael and I offer our readings of the (obviously) historical or cultural issues that might affect our readings of the text. We often put things here when we think that there are issues that have been overlooked or misread in the traditional commentaries and texts on the readings.

"So What" is the part where Michael and I try to bring all this reflection back to earth. There are often "Sermon Thoughts" in this part, or other reflections of a more down-to-earth nature.

There are other buttons on that navigation bar, though. "Introductory Articles" brings up a menu of articles designed to introduce the reader to mimetic theory and other interpretive strategies. "Occasional Articles" brings up a menu of articles written in response to specific issues/events, or articles on specific topics that don't fit anywhere else. "Bible Studies" is a series written for us by Dr. Anthony Bartlett, author of "Cross Purposes: The Violent Grammar of Christian Atonement." "Songs" is where we put a new song every once in a while, written and recorded by Michael Hardin. Most of the rest of the buttons are pretty self-explanatory, except perhaps for "Index of Scriptures." For those users who don't use the Revised Common Lectionary, we've created a list of the texts on which we've written so far, so that you can look to see if we've covered a text you'd like to use.

We hope that this helps our users find their way around "Preaching Peace." If you have questions, please email Michael or myself for help!

Peace,

Jeff