Today’s post will continue our series of summing up what Tal Ilan has described in her book and today we will examine what the ancient Jewish sources tell us about preserving a woman’s chastisty, another major concern in a patriarchal world concerned with purity and (to some degree) power. |inline Read more
This is the last post in my Advent and Christmas series. Today’s post will move from Matthew’s Gospel to John’s Gospel. John has his grip around an idea that Matthew just mentions: Matthew tells us that they are to name the baby “Yeshua” (or, Jesus) because he will save his people. But, then Matthew says this whole big event occurs to fulfill Isaiah 7:14 — the virginal conception leads to the great line: call him “Immanuel” because Jesus is “God... Read more
Today’s post will look at what the sources tell us about a woman’s biology. Jewish sources, because of the laws about purity in Leviticus, dwell on such topics. I find this topic to be simultaneously off-putting for some but it also permeates the Gospel narratives in a variety of ways. It is important for us to gain a realistic understanding of the ancient world so as to avoid imposing our world on that world. |inline Read more
We are looking at women’s place in the world of Jesus in order to comprehend a more historically-informed understanding of women and ministry. Today’s post will look at two subjects in the ancient Jewish world: what does the evidence tell us about daughters and what does it tell us about marriage? Answers have implications for numerous passages in the NT. |inline Read more
Zondervan has asked me to offer you this invitation: Dear friend: In just a few weeks I’ll be part of the 2006 National Pastors Convention in San Diego on February 22-25, 2006. I thought you might be interested in what this convention can offer you. If you go to www.nationalpastorsconvention.com , you will find all the details of this excellent event. |inline Read more
If Luke’s emphasis of Jesus’ birth can be seen through the lens of the “great contrast,” Matthew’s can be viewed in the hunted and heralded Savior. In Matthew, Joseph and Mary co-habit, Joseph names the baby boy (“Yeshua” or Jesus — “Savior”), and then Matthew launches into a deep irony. Remember, Jesus is Savior, Son of David, Messiah. Matt 2:1: “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to... Read more
In this series of posts on Jesus and women, there will be a comprehensive survey of what we know about women at the time of Jesus. Our big question is this: What did Jesus and the early churches think of women and how were they incorporated into ministry? To answer this question we need to look at the evidence from the ancient world, which is the focus of this series. |inline Read more
Nothing can be set in greater contrast: Mary wraps the Messiah, the One destined to wipe the slate clean and restore Israel and bring good news to the whole world, in swaddling cloths and places him in a manger. Messiah’s don’t sleep in mangers, and Caesars don’t enter the world in humble ways. Meanwhile, outside shepherds join in the angelic chorus and here is what is said: |inline Read more
I am baffled by our translations of the Lord’s Prayer passage in Luke, and maybe you join me here. Luke 11:2, in the NIV, RSV, NRSV, and many others: “When you pray, say.” Even the ESV, which prides itself on a more literal rendering, has the same. “When you pray, say.” The Greek behind our translations is hotan proseucheisthe legete, which, if the translations would be a little more literal, would be “whenever you pray, recite/say.” |inline Read more
To continue with our series on friendship as the foundation for genuine conversation, friendship that engulfs utility and pleasure into a larger, and more enduring, whole: the friendship of virtue. This letter of Seneca to Lucilius unveils the heart of geniune friendship: it involves trust, disclosure, and most of all judgment. I’ll be interested in your response to Seneca’s letter, and I’d also be interested in whether or not you consider this to be the sort of thing Paul would... Read more
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