Psalm 137 and Religious Violence, Part V: Milton’s Allusive Abuse
For Part I of this series, click here; for Part II, click here; for Part III, click here; for Part IV, click here. If Stephen Marshall’s literalism makes his reading of Psalm 137 easy to interpret as a call to real-world violence, what of readings like John Milton’s, where the language is certainly abusive, but [...]
Psalm 137 and Religious Violence, Part IV: No Neuters
As the cases of Digby and Smectymnuus illustrate, the Israel/Edom metaphor does not readily admit of middle ground. Indeed, in a famous sermon given on the occasion of a Parliamentary fast day on 23 February 1642, Stephen Marshall (the “SM” in Smectymnuus) argued “that all men are blessed or cursed according as they help or [...]
Psalm 137 and Religious Violence, Part III: Bishop Hall and the Smectymnuan Hydra
The invocations of Psalm 137 got uglier when Hall addressed a new tract to Parliament in the wake of the Root and Branch Petition. This tract drew responses from adversaries in his first category, the ones he had condemned to “darke lodgings, and Ellebore.” Prominent among these was a group of ministers—Stephen Marshall, Edmund Calamy, [...]
Psalm 137 and Religious Violence, Part II: Root and Branch
Like Jacob and Esau after the episode of the pottage, the family relationship of the English Church had gone quite sour by 1640, and this bitterness gave Psalm 137 its potency in the church-government debates. During the 1630s Archbishop Laud and a group of like-minded divines had advanced a “High Church” program of reform that [...]
Contributing Scholars
Rabbi Ari SaksRabbi Ari Saks is a recently ordained rabbi from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and a product of the various arms of the Conservative Movement. He is an avid believer and supporter of the benefits of "interfaithing" (faiths working and dialoguing together) and is particularly interested in how members of different faiths (even within one's own family) come together to do spiritually meaningful work. He currently serves as the Rabbi of Temple Beth Mordecai in Perth Amboy, NJ.
Mark Randall JamesMark Randall James is a PhD student in religious studies at the University of Virginia. His work focuses on Jewish and Christian interpretation of Scripture and the distinctive rationalities of scriptural religious traditions.
Rebecca LeviReligious Studies grad student. Amateur cartoonist and cook, even more amateur violinist and science nerd. All-around kvetch.