Thomas S. Schreiner has some intriguing comments about Paul’s descriptions of his suffering for the gospel in Paul, Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ . For example, he cites 2 Corinthians 2:14, where Paul gives thanks to God as the one who “always leads us to death in Christ and manifests through Him the fragrance of the knowledge of him in every place.” The imagery is drawn from the Roman practice of leading captured enemy soldiers in proceession before taking... Read more
In one of the great essays on Great Expectations , J. Hillis Miller claims that Pip exemplifies a consistent view expressed in Dickens?s hero, which is equally a philosophical view of identity that tends toward existentialism and a closely related view of modern social order” ?Dickens heroes and heroines have never experienced perfect security. Each becomes aware of himself as isolated from all that is outside of himself. The Dickensian hero is separated from nature. The world appears to him... Read more
Richard Gaffin?s work always makes for challenging and edifying reading, and his inaugural lecture as Charles Krahe Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Westminster Seminary, published in the Fall 2003 issue of the Westminster Theological Journal is no exception. Three points were especially revealing: 1) In discussing the relationship between ordo and historia salutis , Gaffin helpfully distinguishes a narrower and broader sense of ordo salutis . In a narrow sense, it refers to a particular sequence of God?s... Read more
This from the lead editorial in the March 29 edition of The New Republic : “The new [Spanish] government of the Socialists, led by Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, represents the more commonplace EU view of the world: the suspicion of force, the religion of diplomacy, the horror of American power, the reverence of the United Nations . . . . the Spanish vote certainly said this: We will mourn, but we will not right. Anybody who believes that the bombs... Read more
Robert Louis Wilken has a brief article in the April issue of First Things on the church as culture. He illustrates the internal culture of the church by examining early Christian art, the development of the Christian calendar, and the formation of a distinctive Christian language. Nothing spectacularly new here, but it’s good to have someone of Wilken’s stature and erudition saying things like this: “If Christ is culture, let the sidewalks be lit with fire on Easter Eve, let... Read more
George Steiner has a lengthy review of Bouretz’s Temoins du Futur in the February 27 issue of the London Times Literary Supplement . Bouretz’s book traces the history of Jewish social thought, and particularly the connection between philosophy and messianism, from Herman Cohen through Emmanuel Levinas, taking the story, as Steiner says, “into the domain of current French philosophy.” The book focuses on a series of key Jewish philosophers: Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig (friend of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy), Martin Buber, Walter Benjamin,... Read more
Luke 23:13-25 Six times in this passage, Luke uses the word ?release.?E Most of the uses describe Pilate?s desire to release Jesus. He plans to scourge Jesus and ?release?EHim; he is obliged to ?release?Esomeone at the festival, but the Jews demand that Pilate ?release?EBarabbas rather than Jesus, which is what Pilate eventually does. This theme of ?release?Eis clearly related to the Passover setting. Pilate offers to release a prisoner because it is a festival time. This is an appropriate custom... Read more
The NT teaches that Jesus was a man of faith. Jesus trusted in God throughout His passion, His trials, torture, and death. Among other passages, Peter wrote in his first epistle: ?Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth, and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him... Read more
In Rom 4 and elsewhere, Paul indicates that the Jews had been radically misusing circumcision. According to Paul, circumcision pointed to the covenant righteousness that Yahweh had reckoned to Abraham on account of his faith. Paul says that circumcision was the “seal of righteousness” but Genesis 17 talks about circumcision as the “sign of the covenant,” and Paul’s transformation of the language shows that he understood “righteousness” as a covenantal term. Thus, when Isaac was circumcised his circumcision pointed to... Read more
As NT Wright points out in his commentary on Romans, Paul’s description of Abraham’s faith reverses point-by-point the earlier description of sinful humanity, humanity under wrath. Abraham believes in God the Creator, while the wicked ignore the creator (1:20, 25). Abraham’s body is as good as dead and yet trusts God for new life, while the godless dishonor God in their bodies through idolatry (1:24). Abraham gives glory to God, while the unrighteous refuse to honor God as God (1:21).... Read more
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