When, in the European consciousness, did the Roman Empire end? 404 or 476 make sense, but I wonder if the Reformation was the true end of imperial Rome. Protestants frequently saw continuities of some sort between the Roman imperial authority and papal authority, and what they saw opening before their eyes was an era in European history ?Ethe first era in the Christian era ?Ewhen large sectors of Europe were no longer beholden to Rome. Henry VIII ended not only... Read more
J. H. Bavinck’s An Introduction to the Science of Missions (first published in English in 1960) is superb. Bavinck is flexible and balanced, yet principled, in dealing with the myriad complications of missionary work. He is aware of developments in cultural anthropology and other fields that give assistance to missionaries. His biblical theology of missions reads at points like something written by N. T. Wright. This makes it all the more remarkably that Bavinck says virtually nothing about the connection... Read more
Perhaps we could call it a sanctified form of paranoia. In his Introduction to the Science of Missions , J. H. Bavinck calls attention to Israel’s striking awareness of being watched by the nations around them. If Israel perishes at Sinai, flamed by Yahweh’s wrath, the nations will blaspheme (Ex 32:12); if Yahweh cannot get Israel to the land of promise, the nations will know and gloat (Nu 14:16); Hezekiah wants Yahweh to deliver Jerusalem from the armies of Sennacherib... Read more
Perhaps we could call it a sanctified form of paranoia. In his Introduction to the Science of Missions , J. H. Bavinck calls attention to Israel’s striking awareness of being watched by the nations around them. If Israel perishes at Sinai, flamed by Yahweh’s wrath, the nations will blaspheme (Ex 32:12); if Yahweh cannot get Israel to the land of promise, the nations will know and gloat (Nu 14:16); Hezekiah wants Yahweh to deliver Jerusalem from the armies of Sennacherib... Read more
During his studies of Serbo-Croatian oral poets that contributed so much to the contemporary understanding of Homer, Albert Lord discovered that the Yugoslavian poets could not grasp the notion of “word.” They thought of language as a stream of sound, and the “units” of language were not distinct words but stock phrases, epithets, units of thought. Analyzing language in terms of their basic kernel units is not a universal phenomenon, and is perhaps peculiarly modern and Western. What would our... Read more
During his studies of Serbo-Croatian oral poets that contributed so much to the contemporary understanding of Homer, Albert Lord discovered that the Yugoslavian poets could not grasp the notion of “word.” They thought of language as a stream of sound, and the “units” of language were not distinct words but stock phrases, epithets, units of thought. Analyzing language in terms of their basic kernel units is not a universal phenomenon, and is perhaps peculiarly modern and Western. What would our... Read more
Leviticus 21 There are many ways to describe the offerings of Israel. One of the most striking is that the offerings are God?s bread. This sounds very odd, but it would make perfect sense if we watched an Israelite offering sacrifice, or if we were in Jerusalem for one of the high festival days. We would see people bringing herd and flock animals to the temple. We would see people bringing grain and bread. We would see people bringing skins... Read more
In the sermon this morning, we looked at the connections between Old Covenant sacrifice and New Covenant worship. The Levitical system sets the pattern for worship in the New Covenant. The sacrifice of animals is a figure, a picture of the true sacrifice, the sacrifice of praise that we offer in our worship. Under the Old Covenant, worshipers were required to be clean when they gathered for worship. When Israel came to Sinai, Moses instructed them to wash their clothes... Read more
In the sermon this morning, we will be looking at one particular kind of animal offering from the Old Testament, and looking at the system of offerings in general. As we will see, these offerings recapitulated in ritual form the major events of Israel?s history, particularly the Passover, exodus, and covenant-making at Sinai. But behind that there is another pattern that is ritually embodied in the offerings of the Levitical law. That is the pattern of creation. According to Genesis... Read more
Rom 6:1 is often described as an “antinomian” objection, but it is really a legalist’s objection. Paul does not perceive an antinomian opponent; he expects that HE will be perceived as an antinomian. One can imagine it coming from the Pharisees: You overturn Torah, and the world is thrown into chaos. But one can also imagine it coming from the Romans: You say that NOMOS increases transgression, but we’ve proven that NOMOS brings security, peace, and SOTERIA ?Ethe new golden... Read more
Leithart
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