As Beale points out, in Rev 12 John uses a technique of temporal telescoping. Jesus’ entire career is summarized as incarnation and exaltation. It is reasonable, then, to suggest, as Beale does, that the woman’s labor pains and the sweeping of stars from heaven are describing events of the intertestamental period. Out of the tribulations of intertestamental Israel, the Christ is born. During those tribulations, some of the 12 stars of heaven fall to the ground, but the dragon is... Read more
“Good” is God’s original evaluation of creation (Gen 1), and it will be the last (Rom 8:28). “Good” is the first and the last word. Goodness is the alpha and omega of creation. Read more
Revelation 20:1-3 claims that Satan is cast into the abyss, which is “shut” and “sealed” for 1000 years, and verses 7-10 add that at the end of the 1000 years, Satan will be released to gather the nations against the beloved city of God until they are devoured. What kind of restraint is being put on Satan? Is he utterly powerless? And, what’s the point of the release at the end of the millennium? Beale offers a number of compelling... Read more
Henri Bergson attempted to solve the paradox of Zeno’s arrow (which can never cover the infinite points between the bow and the target, and yet does) by calling attention to the implicit spatialization of time within the paradox. The space in which movement takes place is divisible, but the duration of time that is the movement itself is not divisible. The arrow never rests at any point, but moves through the whole time, and thus reaches the target. As he... Read more
Henri Bergson attempted to solve the paradox of Zeno’s arrow (which can never cover the infinite points between the bow and the target, and yet does) by calling attention to the implicit spatialization of time within the paradox. The space in which movement takes place is divisible, but the duration of time that is the movement itself is not divisible. The arrow never rests at any point, but moves through the whole time, and thus reaches the target. As he... Read more
INTRODUCTION Paul is talking about the liberation of creation from bondage to decay and corruption into freedom. This raises the question of the time frame for the fulfillment of this prophecy. It is normally taken as a reference to the end of the world. The ?redemption of the body?E(v. 23) is taken as a reference to the general resurrection, and Paul is teaching that there will be a transfiguration of the whole creation when that occurs. Yet, it seems plausible... Read more
Julie Canlis has a helpful article on Calvin’s response to Osiander in the International Journal of Systematic Theology (6:2 [2004]). A few points are worth highlighting: 1) She sees the response to Osiander as part of the reason why Reformed theologians tend to be skittish about talk of “participation.” Calvin, she argues, has no such fears, and develops a Trinitarian account of participation that does not imply an ontological union of substances but does make plenty of room for the... Read more
In two older articles, Alister McGrath examines the sources for the Reformation doctrine of justification, covering ground also covered in his 2-volume Iustitia Dei. The first article, published in the Harvard Theological Review in 1982 (75:2, pp. 219-242) examines the evidence for claiming that the Reformation doctrine of justification was anticipated by patristic or medieval writers ?Ethe issue of ?forerunners?Eof the Reformation. McGrath argues that the Reformation doctrine of justification is not simply identical with an anti-Pelagian doctrine; it is... Read more
Covenant of Light. This section concludes Part I of The Beauty of the Infinite , entitled ?Dionysus Against the Crucified.?E With this section, Hart concludes his critique of classical, modern and postmodern thought, and the outlines of the Christian ontology that interrupted the history of metaphysics and that he develops in the ?dogmatica minora?Ethat constitutes the remainder of the book. He describes the phrase used as a title for this section late in the section: the covenant of light is... Read more
In a speech delivered on April 29 to the Fulcrum Conference at Islington, NT Wright notes that the Spirit comes to bring God’s future into the present, and that the Spirit also binds together heaven and earth. This reminds me of Jim Jordan’s claim that the Spirit is the divine matchmaker, whose work is to prepare the Bride for her Husband and to bind them into one flesh. Wright is showing the breadth of the Spirit’s matchmaking work, and his... Read more
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