The Twelve apostles are all men of Galilee, but as soon as Acts opens they are based in Jerusalem and remain there, even after the stoning of Stephen and the dispersal of the church. Perhaps there’s a connection with the remnant typology mentioned in an earlier post: The remnant has moved from the North (Galilee) to the South (Jerusalem) and remains there until the destruction of the city. In this scenario, the apostles are like Jeremiah before the destruction of... Read more
I don’t have my sermons taped, and have been asked why. Here’s a couple of reasons: 1) Jeff Meyers pointed out a number of years ago that taping sermons tempts a pastor to preach to a group other than the church in front of him. Instead of addressing the specific local concerns, he will be tempted to be a “prophet to the nation.” Some preachers are called to that; most aren’t. I’m not. 2) As I’ve mulled over this more... Read more
Listening to Jim Jordan’s tapes on Daniel has helped me to put some pieces together in Luke. Jim discusses the “remnant covenant” at some length in the first couple of tapes, and points out some of the main features of that period of Israel’s history. In many respects, these features are brought out also in Jesus’ ministry: 1) Elijah and Elisha form a “church” independent of the temple. Jesus does the same, offering forgiveness and atonement and cleansing apart from... Read more
The gods in Euripides are savage, unpredictable, random, liable to sneak up and destroy you at a moment’s notice. No wonder that Paul’s announcement that Jesus had defeated the principalities and powers came as such great good news. Read more
The gods in Euripides are savage, unpredictable, random, liable to sneak up and destroy you at a moment’s notice. No wonder that Paul’s announcement that Jesus had defeated the principalities and powers came as such great good news. Read more
Lecture #3: Chosen in Christ: Election and Trinity INTRODUCTION Scripture teaches that God does all things according to the purpose of His will (Ephesians 1:11), and that the God who does this is the Triune God. How are those two teachings of Scripture related? How does the doctrine of the Trinity shape our understanding of election? How does a Trinitarian doctrine of election help us to avoid determinism? How can a Trinitarian doctrine of election make election a comforting rather... Read more
Lecture #2: Surplus at the Origin: Trinity, Eschatology, and Story INTRODUCTION This is going to be difficult. I hope it’s worth it. I begin with two observations. First, on any millennial view, the Christian account of history is progressive, moving from the garden to the city. It is eschatological not only in that there is an end, but that the end is a glorified beginning, not merely a return to origins. To say the same in other words, the Christian... Read more
Here’s lectures notes on the first of my lectures on the Trinity at the upcoming Ministerial Conference in Moscow. The next two posts will be notes for my other two lectures. Lecture #1: The Dance of God, the Dance of Life: Perichoresis in Creator and Creature INTRODUCTION Since the patristic period, “perichoresis” has been a technical term to describe the interrelations of the Persons of the Trinity. The noun comes from a Greek verb ( perichorein ) that means “to... Read more
Silence is often seen as the summit of piety. Barth wisely says: Confronted with the mystery of God, the creature must be silent: not merely for the sake of being silent, but for the sake of hearing. Only to the extent that it attains silence, can it attain to hearing. But, again, it must be silent not merely for the sake of hearing, but for that of obeying. For obedience is the purpose and goal of hearing ( CD ,... Read more
A couple of quotations from Barth (both from Church Dogmatics , II.2, p. 5), not surprising or unusual in the post-Barth theological world, but well said: “We should still not have learned to say ‘God’ correctly (i.e., as understood in the Christian Church and on the basis of Holy Scripture) if we thought it enough simply to say ‘God.’” “We must not be so exact, so clever, so literal, that our doctrine of God remains only a doctrine of God.... Read more
Leithart
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