Gordon CI Wong (VT 51.4) examines the call to “believe” in Isaiah 7 (specifically v. 9b). He asks, What does faith mean in Isaiah 7? He rejects interpretations that suggest Ahaz is supposed to respond passively to the threat from Israel and Aram by renouncing military defenses. On the contrary, Isaiah tells Ahaz to “take care,” which Wong takes as an exhortation to fulfill the military necessities. Wong also rejects the notion that Isaiah is rebuking Ahaz for wanting to... Read more
Sudanese artist Philip Makuei has used scrap metal from crashed MiG fighters to make decorative crosses. Isaiah 2:4. Read more
Last week, I posted a critique of the argument of Cal Beisner and Fowler White concerning the connection between the covenant of redemption and the covenant of works. Beisner and White replied, and I post their reply here with their permission. We offer our sincere thanks to Dr. Leithart for his thoughtful interaction with our observations on the relationship between the doctrine of a meritorious covenant of works and the doctrine of God. We agree with him that reflections on... Read more
A Transvaal hymn celebrates Jesus’ victory: Jesus Christ is Conqueror By his resurrection he overcame death itself By his resurrection he overcame all things He overcame magic He overcame amulets and charms He overcame the darkness of demon possession He overcame dread When we are with him We also conquer. Read more
Jenkins comments a number of times on the prominence of Old Testament Wisdom literature and James in Southern Christianity. He notes that these books have been particularly important as inter-religious texts. The Galai Lama “provided an admiring introduction” for the letter of James, and Ecclesiastes has “acquired a significant following among those with a Theravada Buddhist background” in Thailand. Jenkins muses on the irony that these “seemly prosaic” books should catch on in the South, rather than John’s gospel or... Read more
A Zulu song includes the line, “Aka na mandla uSathane/ S’omshaya nge vhesi.” Philip Jenkins translates: “Satan has no power/ we wil clobber him with a [biblical] verse.” Read more
A number of writers have drawn up exposes of the “theocratic” agenda of evangelical Republicans over the past two years, and many find the darkly Armenian figure of RJ Rushdoony lurking behind every legislative proposal and protest march. They don’t know the half of it. By Philip Jenkins’s description ( The New Faces of Christianity , 2006), there’s an awful lot of theonomy going on in Africa. Africans love the OT, some still keep dietary laws and maintain other aspects... Read more
The following is taken from an essay by Michael Wheeler in Jane Austen in Context (Cambridge). He points out that growing up in a clergyman’s house, and with two clergyman as brothers, Austen’s life was intertwined with the church and Anglican faith. The “moderate Anglicanism” with which she was most familiar, he says, “steered a safe middle course between Enlightenment rationalism, with its attendant dangers of agnosticism and secularization, and Evangelical ‘enthusiasm,’ characterized by intense personal piety.” Though part of... Read more
The following is taken from an essay by Michael Wheeler in Jane Austen in Context (Cambridge). He points out that growing up in a clergyman’s house, and with two clergyman as brothers, Austen’s life was intertwined with the church and Anglican faith. The “moderate Anglicanism” with which she was most familiar, he says, “steered a safe middle course between Enlightenment rationalism, with its attendant dangers of agnosticism and secularization, and Evangelical ‘enthusiasm,’ characterized by intense personal piety.” Though part of... Read more
All theology is theology proper. Michael Horton says that human beings are created “wired” for the law: “It belongs to us by nature in creation, while the gospel is an announcement of good news in the event of transgression. It has to be preached, whereas the law belongs to the conscience of every person already. Therefore, the original relationship of humanity to God is one of law and love, not of grace and mercy.” This makes grace, not law and... Read more
Leithart
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