In Jesus’ sermon in Luke 6, he contrasts the behavior of His disciples with that of “sinners” in a series of three point. Sinners love those who love themselves, but Jesus’ disciples must love enemies. Sinners do good only to those who do good to them, but Jesus’ disciples must do good to enemies without any hope for good in return. Sinners lend only to those who can repay, but Jesus’ disciples must lend without expecting return. Who are these... Read more
( Click here to see previous notes.) Here are the rest of the notes from that upcoming lecture: 2. p 2: “Over the past century, however, the center of gravity in the Christian world has shifted inexorably southward, to Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Already today, the largest Christian communities on the planet are to be found in Africa and Latin America. If we want to visualize a ‘typical’ contemporary Christian, we should think of a woman living in a... Read more
Below are some notes for a talk I’m giving at the University of Idaho campus tomorrow evening (September 17). Apologies for the formatting. There’s some material here that is relevant only to the local situation, but the general thrust would be relevant to any Christians in a university town or any town with a significant foreign population. ( Notes continued in the next entry . . . . ) The Stranger I. I want to talk about a few related... Read more
Sermon notes for September 21: A Great Prophet, Luke 7:1-50 INTRODUCTION The previous section of Luke’s gospel (5:1-6:11) began with a call to disciples and ended with the Pharisees seeking ways to destroy Jesus. This section (6:12-7:50) begins with the appointment of apostles and ends with all the people in the Pharisee’s house questioning Jesus’ right to forgive sins. In chapter 7, the focus of attention is the authority of Jesus’ words. Jesus closes His sermon in chapter 6 with... Read more
I have long considered the debate of infra and supralapsarianism a classic example of the excesses of Reformed orthodoxy and scholasticism. I still like Bavinck’s even-handed treatment of the issues in his Doctrine of God . But I have to confess I’ve been thinking lately more as a supralapsarian than an infra, and, strangely perhaps, this supra inclination has taken a strongly narrative-historical form. Supra implies that all grace is the grace of creation; that is, God plans for the... Read more
Here’s a fun thought experiment from David Wootton’s review of J.C.D. Clark’s book, Our Shadowed Present . Clark puts forward this theory in earnest. In 1688, James II fled England to escape the advancing army of William of Orange; had he stood his ground, he would never, Clark believes, have been deposed. James had already demonstrated a policy towards the American colonies quite different from that later pursued by the Hanoverians — under a Stuart dynasty, according to Clark, there... Read more
I’m wondering about the sexual imagery in the incident with the “sinful woman” in Luke 7:36-50. Her attention is devoted completely to Jesus’ “feet,” which is often euphemistic for sexual organs. When the text says that she kissed Jesus’ feet, it means she kissed his feet, but the sexual imagery is still present. She also unbinds her hair, which no respectable woman would do in front of any man but her husband. Even her touching Jesus is an offense to... Read more
I’m wondering about the sexual imagery in the incident with the “sinful woman” in Luke 7:36-50. Her attention is devoted completely to Jesus’ “feet,” which is often euphemistic for sexual organs. When the text says that she kissed Jesus’ feet, it means she kissed his feet, but the sexual imagery is still present. She also unbinds her hair, which no respectable woman would do in front of any man but her husband. Even her touching Jesus is an offense to... Read more
Here are some gleanings from a Sunday evening of periodical catching-up: 1) Christopher Hitchens offers a blistering assessment of JFK in his TLS review of Robert Dallek’s biography, An Unfinished Life . Hitchens focuses especially on JFK’s medical history, summarizing this way: anyone scanning this or several other similar accounts would have to be astonished, not that the man’s career was cut short, but rather that it lasted so long. In addition to being a moral defective and a political... Read more
The exhortation for Sunday, September 14: Jesus knew that His teaching differed from the teaching of others in Israel and especially from the Pharisees, and His warnings at the end of the sermon show that He wanted to distinguish His teaching from others. He gives a quick succession of “cartoons” that describe the dangers of false teachers. He says that the Pharisees are like blind men who are trying to lead other blind men, and points out that when the... Read more
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