Affiliation:
1. Peter William Goodman, Ph.D. (University of Glasgow) is Assistant Principal for St Peter’s College and Director of Ongoing Ministerial Development, 95-99 Effingham Street, Rotherham S65 1BL UK. He has taught Biblical Studies in various courses and colleges in the UK and also in Ethiopia. His other publications include Yearning for You (Sheffield Phoenix Press), a conversation between biblical songs and contemporary songs about desire for intimacy.
Abstract
The rivers mentioned in the Bible are often significant. This narrative-exegetical study focuses on the Mesopotamian rivers, along with the Nile and the Jordan, with the latter leading from the Hebrew Bible on into the New Testament. The paper explores the ways in which these rivers convey divine revelation and mission, asking what the rivers say in expressing that revelation and also what the rivers do as part of its drama. A rich mixture of themes emerge: enabling life and reminding of loss; the nature of power, hubris and vulnerability; transition into new beginnings through crossing the rivers and through washing in them; and ultimately hope for a renewed creation through the flow of life-giving divine presence. In a variety of ways - symbolic, instrumental, sacramental and participatory – the rivers speak and act as partners with their creator.
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