Biblische Ausbildung

A Sermon on Genesis 12:1-4a, March 1, 2026

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 14:05:00 +0000

Pentecost Sunday Sermon 2025

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 11:35:00 +0000

AI Video Series: The Tree of Life and Sacred River of Revelation 22

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Wed, 21 May 2025 17:25:00 +0000

I am creating an imaginative series of AI Videos on the Tree of Life and the Sacred River from Revelation 22—as famous artists might have painted it. Artists to be included range from Claude Monet to Andy Warhol to Vincent Van Gogh. This Sunday, the Revised Common Lectionary includes this reading. Each video in the series combines Scripture, theological imagination, and multiple AI tools to bring these visions to life.

1) Claude Monet

2) Andy Warhol

3) Vincent van Gogh

4) Georgia O'Keeffe

5) Rembrandt van Rijn

The Rebel Cherub of Ezekiel 28, AI Animation Video by Stephen L. Cook

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Tue, 20 May 2025 13:32:00 +0000

Isaiah 6, The Fiery Seraphim and Archaeology, AI Video by Stephen L. Cook

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Mon, 19 May 2025 16:45:00 +0000

Ezekiel 1, The Throne-Chariot Vision, AI Animation by Stephen L. Cook

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Sat, 17 May 2025 15:51:00 +0000

Ezekiel 1, The Throne-Chariot Vision, AI Animation by Stephen L. Cook

Finding Rembrandt's Ram Caught in the Thicket

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 01:04:00 +0000

I've inspected Rembrandt's etching in person and up close at the National Gallery's East Wing on the Mall in Washington, DC. Here is my latest suggestion about the placement of the ram:

Finding Rubens' Tenth Lion....

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 02:27:00 +0000

My students in my Visual Interpretation of Scripture class have been helping me find the "hidden" tenth lion in Rubens' masterwork, "Daniel in the Lions' Den" (ca. 1615). We think that we have found it:

Sermon at the Ordination of New Deacons, December 15, 2024

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 21:33:00 +0000

Dr Stephen L Cook · A Sermon on Luke 22:24–30, for the Ordination of Deacons

Isaiah 40:25-31, A Homily by Stephen Cook, December 11, 2024

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 15:02:00 +0000

Oxford Handbook of Deuteronomy

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 15:12:00 +0000

I recently got a first look at the cover of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Deuteronomy, a project edited by Don Benjamin, to which I contributed. It is exciting to see this becoming extant in print this coming January! Click the image to enlarge it.

An "Eggsegesis" of Amos 8:1-12, by Graham McKim

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Wed, 29 May 2024 01:07:00 +0000

Click the images to greatly enlarge them. My student Graham McKim submitted this artwork as his final exegetical assignment in my OT-2 course this spring. The use of the Pysanky egg to illustrate key themes of Amos 8:1-12 is innovative and effectively executed, making the project a standout example of integrating traditional exegesis with creative expression. The egg features two main images: a basket of ripe fruit with flies (representing the coming demise due to exploitation) and a balance scale with unequal weights (representing economic injustice).

Amos 8:1-12, A Linocut Project by Gabriel Oakes

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Tue, 21 May 2024 18:05:00 +0000

The image below can be greatly enlarged by clicking it:

Here is an excerpt from Gabriel's own explanation of the linocut: "The societal connotations of fruit as a sign of abundance are quickly evoked through bold fruits and bright colors in the piece. However, as one looks closer, it becomes clear that all is not well. The background of the image is filled with swarms of bugs, a sign of the imminent destruction and defilement of the fruit. The bugs in the image are a creative embellishment on the text, meant to illustrate the theme of God’ s destruction and the lack of purity in even the seemingly good members of society, who are castigated in the pericope for their abuse of the poor and needy from their positions of community trust and economic power."

Liturgical Dance: JOB 23:1-17

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Fri, 17 May 2024 03:14:00 +0000

Four of my Seminarians composed, crafted, and performed this liturgical-dance interpretation of Job 23 as a final exegetical project in my OT-2 course this Spring. Classmates Santana Bartoldos, Maggie Paul, Ellie Singer, and Lydia Arnts collaborated in creating the dance and recording the video embedded below. Music Composed and Performed by Santana Bartoldus; Liturgical Dance Composed and Performed by Lydia Arnts, Ellie Singer, & Maggie Paul.

As the video begins, Lydia enters as Job and lays his legal case before God (vv. 4-5). Job kneels on the ground in rebellion (v.2) and God (Maggie) faces away reflecting Job's sense of abandonment but also God's allowing Job space to vent and imagine. Job's beckoning hand movements reflect his imagined ideal of being able to summon God. As Ellie takes up the part of Job (@ 00:26), she enacts vv. 8-9, where Job looks to every direction in search of God, but cannot see him. Job’s fragility is expressed in broken, echoing F major clusters which pass quickly into a circular triplet motive with an upward-reaching, stretched-thin top voice. The circularity of the gesture conveys a sense of motion and also of futility, as Job cannot catch God’s tail, try though he might. She arises as "gold" (v. 10) at 00:47. Then she proceeds to walk in step with God. Planing octave+third chords convey Job’s steadfastness in keeping God’s way. Verses 13-14 come to life as Ellie embodies God's pumping up God's arms. Job's dread seen in v. 15 comes to life as Maggie, as Job, is covered by darkness (v. 17), yet at the end she raises her head expressing the persistence and defiance expressed in the NIV's rendering of v. 17.

ICON on Job 23:1-17, by Kate Mumey

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Tue, 14 May 2024 17:58:00 +0000

Kate Mumey created this icon as part of her final project in my Spring Old Testament Interpretation course. Here is an excerpt of her description of Job: "This is not an icon of a man who feels himself embraced by the loving arms of a just and true God. This icon is fear, anger, and the most feverish desperation. In Job’s own words, he is in search, and the language [of finding God], reverential though it is, implies the absence of God, and he has searched for this elusive and unresponsive God. There is panicked energy in the arms of Job. You can almost see it shooting out of his fingertips in desperation for confrontation and understanding from his God."

Visual AI Meditations on Psalms 51 and 121 by Greg Williams

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Tue, 14 May 2024 01:05:00 +0000

For his final project for my Psalms class, Greg Williams leveraged his experience with prompt engineering and design and development of artistic concepts to create DALL-E (ChatGPT) images illuminating Psalms 51 and 121. Below are some of his images and excerpts of his discussion of them:

Psalm 51:3, "For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me." The image reflects the psalm's "profound and raw honesty with respect to...the depth of sin." The ash and charcoal style fits the liturgical deployment of the Psalm on Ash Wednesday.

Psalm 121:3, "He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber." Greg explains the image as follows: "John Brown chose Harpers Ferry as the site of his famous raid and attempt to start an abolitionist slave revolt because of the importance of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the underground railroad and the ability of enslaved African-Americans to move in secret and with some safety in the many nooks and crannies of this mountainous region. The final inspiration for this image, then, is the concept of enslaved African-Americans escaping through treacherous mountains at night guided and protected by God." The Harlem Renaissance style is Greg's deliberate choice.

Star Hebrew Students Graduating Today

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Fri, 10 May 2024 04:44:00 +0000

Luke, Katie, Myself, Thomas, Tom

THE TWO HUNDRED AND FIRST COMMENCEMENT SERVICE of the VIRGINIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, Thursday, May 9, 2024 at 10am

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Fri, 10 May 2024 03:37:00 +0000

ARTWORK on Psalm 13 by Daisy Colón

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Wed, 08 May 2024 19:45:00 +0000

Graduating M.Div. Senior Daisy Colón created this mixed-media artwork as part of her final project in my Psalms course this semester. The artwork offers a powerful visual corollary to Psalm 13's themes of distress and hope. Daisy notes that the cry "how long?" occurs multiple times in the poem (four times in vv. 1-2). Here is human wretchedness, alone under a giant sky, on rough, black sinking ground.

Artwork: Psalm 128, by Silas Engstrom

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Wed, 08 May 2024 02:58:00 +0000

As his final project for our Psalms class, M.Div. senior Silas Engstrom created this image of watercolor, acrylic, and pencil. Here is an excerpt from Si's description: "The human forms collectively represent the relational connections of family. They face the altar table with expectation to symbolize their pilgrimage toward God. The faces are intentionally not visible to express the universality of being. These forms convey both any individual’s pilgrimage toward the source of blessedness and all humankind’s journey toward the Holy."

Psalm 13: Music Video Project by Katie Spero

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Tue, 07 May 2024 15:22:00 +0000

Graduating M.Div. senior Katie Spero wrote music and produced this music video as her final project in my VTS Psalms Course. At the beginning of her middle year of seminary at VTS, Katie received a cancer diagnosis and entered into a prolonged period of suffering. Feeling plunged into the darkness of chaos, loss, and fear lead her to cry out to God like the suppliant of Psalm 13. "How Long?" In the essay accompanying the video, Katie writes: I agree with James Mays’ idea that the faithful “are simultaneously the anxious, fearful, dying, historical person who cannot find God where we want God to be, and the elect with a second history, a salvation history, a life hid with Christ in God.” The tone of the song [of Psalm 13] is uplifting, even inspirational, while the words express depths of despair and turmoil.

Now Available on the Bible Odyssey Site: "Household Gods"

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 21:48:00 +0000

Click Here for Free Access

Homily on Jael (Judges 4:16-24), 23 September 2022

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 18:15:00 +0000

Dr. Stephen · Homily on Jael (Judges 4)

New Book at Thirty Percent Off!

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 14:38:00 +0000

My new book, written with two of my best friends, is part of the 30% off sale at Fortress press this month. https://bit.ly/3JPpsSQ.

Apocalyptic Student Artwork, Fall 2021

noreply@blogger.com (S and C) — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 02:44:00 +0000

Some of the final student projects in my fall seminar on Apocalyptic Literature, BIBL 610, involved the creation of artwork. I have the permission of several members of the seminar to share their work here on my Bible blog. This post presents two projects submitted in partial fulfillment of course requirements, the first by Timothy H. Rutherford, a VTS senior.

The first two images above represent some of the material that influenced Timothy. They suggested the idea of apocalyptic revelation as a pulling back of a veil or curtain to reveal what has been unseen, perhaps a cosmic backdrop to mundane reality or perhaps hidden systems and powers at work in the world. The final drawing is Timothy's own creation, and it represents an optimistic vision of unveiling. The future that is unveiled is still being resolved as its colors emerge, but it includes a rising sun behind a cross and families reunited as COVID drops away to the bottom center right.

The second artwork is by Craig Dosher and represents God enthroned atop the cosmic chariot in Ezekiel 1:26-28.

Craig worked with colored foam rubber to create a layered, stratified work in keeping with tiered levels of otherness and holiness in Ezekiel's vision of God. The throne behind the divine figure is made of sapphire-blue felt. The upper half of the figure is formed with three layers of felt that resembles amber.