To Change the World 1

Last updated on: July 11, 2011 at 6:00 am By Joel Willitts

I begin a series of posts engaging James Hunter’s recent provocative book To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World. The book’s central questions are both academic and personal according to Hunter. The basic academic questions are: “How is religious faith possible in the late modern world? Is it possible? How does the encounter of religious faith with modernity change the nature and experience of faith? Or for that matter modernity itself?”... Read more

Church and Israel – Part 4

Last updated on: July 10, 2011 at 11:15 pm By Michael F. Bird

It is in Paul that the real hub of the debate on whether the church is the “new Israel” takes place. To begin with, it has to be acknowledged that most of Paul’s reference to “Israel” refer to his religious and ethnic compatriots who do not (yet) believe in Jesus the Messiah (e.g., 1 Cor 10:18; Eph 2:12; 3:6; Phil 3:5). Moreover, while several scholars try to take Rom 11:26, “And in this way, all Israel will be saved,” as... Read more

Jesus and the Eucharist 7 – Last Post

Last updated on: July 10, 2011 at 8:34 am By Joel Willitts

This post brings our series of interactions with Brant Pitre’s book Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secrets of the Last Supper to a conclusion. In his sixth chapter, “The Fourth Cup and the Death of Jesus”, which amounts to the last new idea before a couple of concluding chapters, Brant pursues a “somewhat more speculative” proposal. In this chapter he seeks to show that Jesus didn’t complete the Passover meal with his disciples in the... Read more

Church and Israel – Part 3

Last updated on: July 7, 2011 at 5:36 pm By Michael F. Bird

Another subject for consideration is the position of Jesus in relation to Israel. First, historically speaking, the best way to understand Jesus’ ministry is in the context of Jewish restoration eschatology. Key prophetic hopes were focused on the return of the twelve tribes to Judea from the Diaspora, the reconstitution of a new Israelite kingdom, complete with a new Davidic King, the forgiveness of sins, a renewed covenant, a new temple, and the return of God to Zion, etc. Now... Read more

The Church and Israel – Part 2

Last updated on: July 6, 2011 at 7:35 pm By Michael F. Bird

A first factor we have to consider is how the name “Israel” functioned in Judaism and early Christianity. The name “Israel” denoted ancestry from “Jacob” (Gen 32:28), it came to signify the northern kingdom of the Hebrew people (e.g., 1 Kgs 12:20-21), and the name can refer to the people apart from the priesthood (e.g., Deut 27:9). For the most part, “Israel” simply means a people, coram Deo, a people who are addressed by God.[1] Furthermore, “Israel” was not just... Read more

Review: Paul and the Gospels

Last updated on: July 6, 2011 at 7:26 pm By Michael F. Bird

Nick Norelli continues his review of Paul and the Gospels, this time summarizing and evaluating the essays by Joel Willitts and Paul Foster on Paul vis-a-vis the Gospel of Matthew. Read more

Bonhoeffer on the Practice of Spiritual Disciplines

Last updated on: July 6, 2011 at 6:52 am By Joel Willitts

In his exposition of Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:16-18 in Nachfolge (“Discipleship”), Bonhoeffer has this to say about the importance of practicing spiritual disciplines such as fasting: Jesus takes for granted that disciples will keep the pious practice or exercise of fasting. The life of a disciple requires the strict practice of austerity. The only purpose of such practices is to make disciples more willing and more joyous in following the designated path and doing the works required of them.... Read more

The Church and Israel – Part 1

Last updated on: July 5, 2011 at 10:24 pm By Michael F. Bird

How does the Church relate to Israel? The question has been a perennial one ever since Jewish Christians believers began sharing their faith with fellow Jews (Acts 1–5). It became more of an issue when Jewish Christians were persecuted, denounced, expelled from synagogues, and even cursed as “heretics” by Jewish leaders (John 9:22; 12:42; 16:2; 2 Cor 11:24; Acts 8:1-3; 11:19; 12:1; Rev 2:9; Justin, Dial. Tryph. 16, 93, 95, 96, 123, 133). Christians who had been treated so might... Read more

Joker One and The Fourth of July

Last updated on: July 4, 2011 at 7:32 am By Joel Willitts

It’s the 4th of July in the US. Happy Independence Day to our American readers! (Please indulge us this holiday those still under the Crown). I want to pass on a very interesting and moving story. Yesterday we had a special guest at our church named Donovan Campbell. Donovan is a disciple of Jesus and a Princeton University grad as well as a husband and father of three girls. He served in the Marines in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars... Read more

Surviving and Growing Up in an Era of Change

Last updated on: July 4, 2011 at 6:56 am By Michael F. Bird

Paul Barnett, NT scholar and former Bishop of North Sydney, discusses here how Christians can use the resources of the past to deal with the challenges of the present times. These are turbulent times but that is true to a greater or lesser degree of all historical eras. It is the nature of life. As in every age we face a twofold challenge. On one hand, we are to ‘make disciples’ and, on the other, we are to ‘contend for... Read more