James Wood has his fun with Harold Bloom in his TNR review of Bloom’s recent Jesus and Yahweh . Wood offers this parody of a typical Bloomian sentence: “Only Don Quixote can rival the fat knight, Sir John Falstaff, and even Emerson at his strongest – stronger, here, even than his belated rival, Nietzsche – is not quite a match for his ultimate precursor, J’s Yahweh, though I concede that the greatest Jewish genius after Jesus, Sigmund Freud, could not... Read more
Jerome Neyrey summarizes the effect of Jesus’ instruction to pray, give alms, and fast “in private” in terms of ancient honor systems: “In essence, the disciples must separate themselves from ‘their’ synagogues; they may not join other observant Judeans in publicly practicing almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. But inasmuch as these symbolic actions create and reinforce group identity and loyalty, refusal to join one’s neighbors would be interpreted as rejection of group identity, loyalty, and the code of gender expectations. The... Read more
Mary Douglas has observed that “Levitical impurity is a fact of biology, common to all persons, and also a result of specific moral offences that anyone is liable to commit such as lying or stealing . . . Biblical impurity is of no use in demarcating advantaged social classes or ranks.” But this is precisely what the Jews of Jesus’ time had made it! Read more
INTRODUCTION Hezekiah reverses the work of his father, Ahaz. As a result, the two kingdoms reunite under Hezekiah, who gathers people from “Beersheba even to Dan” to his Passover (2 Chronicles 30:6). In Hezekiah’s reign, the Davidic line experiences another renewal, as under Joash (2 Kings 11). THE TEXT “Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign .... Read more
“Do not leg the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.” It sounds spooky and bizarre: Are we in danger of being haunted by some anger-demon? Once we remember that “diabolos” means “slanderer,” it’s no longer the stuff of horror movies. It’s a daily occurrence. Every pastor who has counselled a married couple that has buried anger and resentment for decades has seen it. Everything that either the husband or wife does or... Read more
“Do not leg the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.” It sounds spooky and bizarre: Are we in danger of being haunted by some anger-demon? Once we remember that “diabolos” means “slanderer,” it’s no longer the stuff of horror movies. It’s a daily occurrence. Every pastor who has counselled a married couple that has buried anger and resentment for decades has seen it. Everything that either the husband or wife does or... Read more
Bruce Holsinger’s book, The Premodern Condition , is reviewed in the April 14 issue of TLS. Holsinger is tracing the rise of theory in France of the 1960s, and shows that the avant garde was “surprisingly heavily indebted to medievalism.” He describes their relationship to the medieval past as “sacramental” in that they attempted to find in the Middle Agtes “a past with efficacy in the present.” Thus, Georges Bataille (!) found his taste for literature renewed by the Angela... Read more
2 Kings 17:23: So Israel was carried away into exile. In this morning’s sermon, I suggested that we should read the conclusion of the history of the North as part of the gospel story. This passage highlights the fact that Israel’s failure was a failure to believe God, a failure to remain loyal in worship to Yahweh. It thus points to the demand of the gospel, the demand for loyal, persevering faith in the God of Israel. Further, by showing... Read more
Easter is about faith, because by His resurrection Jesus has been installed as the mediator, the firmament boundary between God and man. In the Old Testament, priests served as mediators, who stood in the middle between God and man. Organized in a ring around Yahweh’s tent, the priests served as a protective barrier between the Holy God and His people. When priests ascended the altar or entered the tent to minister, they did so on behalf of the people. (more…) Read more
Baptism, Luther says in his Small Catechism, is not water only, but water “comprehended in God’s word and connected with God’s command.” The following question asks what word constitutes the water as baptism, and cites Matthew 28: “Go ye therefore . . . ” That is, the word that constitutes water as baptism is not the word spoken at the moment of baptism but the word of Jesus that authorizes this particular use of water as baptism. As Luther would... Read more
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