The Bible and Culture

A woman from Wisconsin had 50 yard line tickets for the Super Bowl. As she sat down, a man came along and asked her if anyone was sitting in the seat next to her.  "No," she said, "the seat is empty.""That is incredible," said the man. "Who would have a seat like this for the Super Bowl and not use it?"Somberly, the … [Read more...]

It is clear enough that Tonstad is a global thinker, and one of the things he has thought a lot about is creation care in light of sabbath observance.  The problem is that despite the ecological potency of Sabbath observance, the earth is not merely crying out ‘give it a rest’  it is crying out,  ‘we need an extreme makeover, a rejuvenation, a new creation, and Sabbath is not about that.  It is not about resurrection, it’s about ceasing from creative activity.    Romans 8.22is important in this d … [Read more...]

The last explicit mention of the Sabbath in the NT is in Hebrews (p. 280)—its theme, there remains a Sabbath rest for God’s people. (4.9). Tonstad suggests that the Sabbath which remains refers to a sabbath which can now be enjoyed by Christians and celebrated by Christians, even though the ‘rest’ that the author has in mind has yet to come to fruition and in fact awaits the return of Christ.   And we hear not one word about the fact that the audience for this sermon is probably Jewish Christian … [Read more...]

Paul's writings come in for considerable scrutiny in Tonstad's book because they are problematic for his case, in the extreme. For example Rom. 14.5-6 (a text Tonstad strangely ignores) has Paul saying of early Christian practice "Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. let each be persuaded in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord."   Had Paul continued to be a sabbatarian, he could hardly have written … [Read more...]

I must confess I am not in any way a fan of horror movies, and so I had some apprehension that this movie might degenerate into such a film.  And you can tell from many of the reviews that those reviewers who went into the movie hoping to have the Devil scared out of them, were disappointed.  No, this film is a psychological thriller, along the lines of Shutter Island, though without the surprise twist in the tale.   I went to see this movie because Anthony Hopkins is one of my all time favorite … [Read more...]

One of the interesting ideas in this book  (Tonstad's The Lost Meaning of the Seventh Day)  is that the Sabbath is a sign like a flag is a sign,  actually it’s a symbol--- something which participates in the reality to which it points.  It points to God’s ceasing from his creative activity, and as such when Israel does the same they participate in such ceasing from creative activity. Just as people react violently in the U.S. to flag burning so Exodus says death is the penalty for violating the S … [Read more...]

Thanks to my alert colleague Lawson Stone for dredging this up from hoary antiquity. … [Read more...]

(Continuation of the Review of Tonstad's book on the sabbath)As is well known, Paul connects the new covenant with the Abrahamic covenant, in distinction from the Mosaic covenant, and thus it becomes important for Tonstad that somehow he connect Abraham to Sabbath observance and the Sabbath commandment.  His attempt to do this is weak, because the most he can muster is the fact that Abraham is said to keep some commandments of God, though there is no evidence whatsoever that he kept the … [Read more...]

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