N.T. Wright recognizes that the message of imminent judgment is central to the mission and ministry of Jesus (cf. Jesus and the Victory of God). He insists too that Paul is aware of Jesus’ prophecy and that Paul’s mission is shaped by the looming catastrophe. This from Paul in Fresh Perspective (56): “there are some passages in Paul which are often taken to refer to [the] final apocalypse, but which Paul probably did not intend that way. When he speaks... Read more
Discussing recent movements in Pauline studies, N.T. Wright (Paul in Fresh Perspective, 17) insists on three points. First: “there are such things as texts; however much we deconstruct them, they bounce back with renewed challenge.” Second: “there are such things as fresh and compelling readings of texts; new pairs of eyes, no doubt with new motives but none the worse for that, scan familiar words and hear unfamiliar messages.” These fresh readings don’t stand on their own, self-authenticating. They need... Read more
Exodus 21:26-27 requires a slave-owner to release a slave if he destroys his or her eye or tooth. Shalom Paul (Studies in the Book of the Covenant, 78) claims that this is unprecedented in ancient law codes. He admits that “a slave is not considered the peer of a freeman,” yet “in an unparalleled example of concern for the interest of a slave, the law here provides for his release if the master should destroy his eye or knock out... Read more
The Hebrew word for “east” is mizrach. The Hebrew word for “altar” is mizbeach. A pun? Perhaps. The bronze altars in the tabernacle and temple were in the court to the east of the front doorway (the eastern) doorway of the sanctuary. The mizbeach was on the mizrach. A few associations suggest themselves. East is the direction of sunrise, the beginning of a new day. And each sunrise in the mizrach was greeted with a morning ascension offering on the... Read more
In Ezekiel 47, the prophet is shown a vision of a rebuilt temple. A river flows from the throne of Yahweh, under the threshold on the east of the house, and out to the land. As it flows, is makes the land fruitful, and when it reaches the Dead Sea it turns the salt water fresh. It’s a river of cleansing water. And for that very reason it is a river of life-giving water. Impurity is death; purification is resurrection.... Read more
For several decades, James Wood has bestridden the world of literary criticism like a Colossus. But Thomas Meaney suggests that there is something amiss in Wood-World. Meaney argues that “What distinguished Wood from most of his contemporaries and immediate predecessors was his focus on matters of aesthetic liberty over social justice, and the suggestion that there was a choice to be made between them.” The novel is, Wood has argued, the antidote to ideology and the passions of faith. In... Read more
A recurring theme of medieval treatments of beauty, writes Umberto Eco (Art and Beauty in the Midlde Ages), is “the beauty of being in general. It was a period in whose history darkness and contradiction may be found, but its philosophers and theologians had an image of the universe that was filled with light and optimism” (17). That image arose from their belief in creation. Though it had classical sources as well, it was a biblically-formed aesthetic: “As Genesis taught,... Read more
Proverbs 5:15-23 follows the warnings of 5:1-14 concerning the seductive adulterous woman. The adulterous woman tempts by promising pleasure and, even more importantly, through flattery (vv. 2-3). The adulterous woman is attractive because she makes a young man feel oh so good about himself. Solomon goes on, however, to point to the deadly consequences of listening to her flattery (vv. 4-6). The adulterous will leave her victim enervated and penniless (vv. 10-11), grieving over his folly (vv. 12-14). When Solomon turns... Read more
Mary appears twice in John’s Gospel. She is at the wedding of Cana, where Jesus does His first sign and first reveals His glory. She reappears at the foot of the cross (John 19), at the hour of Jesus. As Max Thurian points out (Mary, Mother of All Christians), Jesus’ words to her and the beloved disciple are the climactic words of the hour, after which Jesus drinks vinegar, cries that it is finished, and passed on HIs Spirit. Once... Read more
This summary of Wright’s views on justification is taken from passages in his 2006 Paul in Fresh Perspective. 1) Covenant and apocalyptic. Unlike some contemporary scholars, Wright insists that covenant and apocalyptic are not opposed to one another, but joined in Paul’s teaching. By “covenant,” he means God’s settled promise to Abraham (and through him to others) to put the sinful world back in order, to intervene in the fallen world to deal with sin and death, to exercise “restorative justice”... Read more
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