--- Title: Soul History Author: Chris Krycho Date: 2014-03-28 13:05 Template: formats/quotation Category: Theology Tags: [quotes] Source: Eugene Peterson, Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work, pp. 84–85. ... > The short story is the pastoral form for narrating *Heilsgeschichte* > (salvation history) in the vocabulary of *Seelsgeschichte* (soul history). In > the *Heilsgeschichte* of Judges, for instance, the enmity of the Midianiites > is kerygmatically integrated into the historical narrative and shown to be a > part of salvation; in the *Seelsgeschichte* of Ruth the bitter emptiness of > Naomi is pastorally attended to under the dynamics of providence and guided to > a concluding fullness. In the *Heilsgeschichte* of Exodus the formidable and > unyielding Egyptians are judged and defeated in the catastrophic plagues and > miraculous sea crossing; in the *Seelsgeschichte* of Ruth the everday > ordinariness of gleaning in the barley fields is used as a means for > accomplishing redemption. In the *Heilsgeschichte* of Joshua the gigantically > walled fortress Jericho is surrounded and conquered by the total community of > God in colorful parade, accompanied by brilliantly sounding trumpets, and the > promised land is entered; in the *Seelsgeschichte* of Ruth an old levirate law > is patiently and quietly worked through by some old men at the city gates of > provincial Bethlehem, and a link is forged in the genealogical chain of the > Messiah.