Mar 5, 2026
This year's Sunday School curriculum is the Old Testament (better titled the Hebrew Bible). And before too long, those of us who follow the Come Follow Me calendar will begin moving into the study of the prophets Isaiah through Malachi. For most Latter-day Saints, this is generally their least favorite months of study. They don't contain much narrative, action, or other things that keep readers' attention.
But are there profound lessons to be learned from the prophets
and their writings? The wise and powerful writer Richard Rohr
thinks so, and this episode features some of his
approaches.
Latter-day Faith hosts Dan Wotherspoon, Terri
Petersen, and Mark Crego have each
recently finished his beautiful book, The Tears of Things:
Prophetic Wisdom in an Age of Rage and discuss their takeaways
from Rohr's book, focusing on the way we presents the prophets as
teachers, but also very much themselves "works in progress." Rohr
even singles out two Hebrew Bible and one New Testament prophets as
"unfinished" prophets.
They also focus on one of the primary reminders in Rohr's book that
prophets always come from "outside" a communities' power structure.
And it must be so, because only someone not tied up in the various
hierarchies (whether royal or religious/priestly) can truly look at
the consequences/suffering inflicted upon others by their policies,
teachings, and rites. It is very hard to worry about organizational
and purity concerns and also see the big picture. Hence there is
need for wise community members to critique what is happening and
to offer paths it might follow to draw closer to its highest ideals
and its covenant with God
Rohr also argues that, as evidenced by their writings, each of the
prophets have and are experiencing what he refers to as the
"prophetic wisdom pattern": moving from "order" to "disorder" and
then (in most cases) "reorder." When they notice failures in
"order" they will become angry, railing on the failures of the
leaders and community members. Others will exhibit great suffering
themselves (such as in Jeremiah's Lamentations.") It is only after
experiencing this great disorder themselves that they can and do
begin to offer messages of hope.
How can their lives and struggles be examples to us? Inspire us?
Call us to learn to be truth-tellers who still very much love their
communities? How might we be "faithful" and also voices
who critique things in our circles from a place of love?
It is rich material. Listen in as Dan, Terri, and Mark try to make
sense of some of it!