Os Guinness is utterly convincing, and characteristically wise, on many points in his 2014 The Global Public Square. He is right to emphasize that “many of the world’s traditional settlements of religion and public life are floundering” (56). He refers to a UK case in which a woman was forbidden to wear a cross at her government job – this in a country with an established Christian church. The then-archbishop of said established church refused to defend the woman’s right to... Read more
In an essay on “Christianity in the Non-Western World” found in The Cross-Cultural Process in Christian History, Andrew Walls observes that “With relatively few (though admittedly important) exceptions, the areas and peoples that accepted Islam have remained Islamic ever since: Arabia seems now so immutably Islamic that it is hard to remember that it once had Jewish tribes and Christian towns, as well as the shrines of gods and goddesses to which the bulk of its population gave homage.” It is... Read more
In a brief review of recent Asian Church history (From Every Tribe and Nation), Mark Noll makes the arresting comment that “Mao Zedong counts as one of the most significant figures in modern church history.” Noll hastens to add this was not Mao’s intention; rather, it is “because of what happened inadvertently through his actions.” Noll elaborates, “Mao attacked Confucian culture as one of the ‘olds’ that the Communist regime would replace with his own Thought; in so doing he... Read more
Scott Sunquist (Understanding Christian Mission, 127-8) asks why African Christianity so often developed into independent churches rather than as mission plants from Western churches. He enumerates a number of causes, all of them revealing. One, unsurprisingly, was the “authoritarianism” of Western missionaries: “There were many well-educated and strong Christian leaders among Africans by the twentieth century, yet missionaries continued to exercise control over Africans at almost every level.” Another, again unsurprisingly, was the Africans’ desire to retain their African traditions:... Read more
After several chapters of polemic against nomos, Paul finally has a kind word for law, commending the “law of Christ” in Galatians 6:2. Some have suggested that the phrase refers to a set of teachings of Jesus, the sermon on the Mount perhaps as a kind of Christianized Torah. Other commentators have suggested instead that the phrase comes from Paul’s opponents. Others that the “law of Christ” is simply “love.” In a fine article on the passage, Richard Hays has pointed... Read more
Paul rebukes the Galatians for beginning by the Spirit, and then attempting to revert to the flesh (Galatians 3:1-5). The Spirit initiates the Christian life. Paul makes it clear later in Galatians that the whole Christian life is life in the Spirit. We “walk” by the Spirit, and “stay in ranks” with the Spirit, and bear the fruits of the Spirit. The Spirit directs the Christian’s life. And, Paul’s rebuke in Galatians 3 implies that the Spirit is the telos... Read more
The contrasting lists of “deeds of the flesh” and “fruits of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:16-25 are arranged in a chiastic inversion: a. Walk by Spirit b. Flesh and Spirit at war c. Deeds of the flesh d. No inheritance for flesh c’. Fruits of the Spirit b’. Crucifixion of the flesh a’. Walk by Spirit A few insights emerge from this arrangement. First, the whole discussion of the specifics of Christian living is framed by references to the Spirit.... Read more
In Galatians 2:10, Paul unexpectedly makes a reference to the Jerusalem apostles’ interest in the poor and his own eagerness to provide assistance. What is this doing in a letter about justification and Jew/Gentile relations? Historically, this reference suggests that the visit he describes in Galatians 2:10 is the same visit recorded in Acts 11:27-30, where Saul and Barnabas are sent to Judea with relief for the brothers there who are suffering from famine predicted by the prophet Agabus. Paul... Read more
At the end of Galatians (6:11-16), Paul picks up on themes from the first part of the letter. In the opening greeting, Paul summarized his gospel as the Son’s self-giving to deliver us from the present evil age. At the end, he says that his participation in the cross means that he is dead to the world. The two declarations say the same thing: To be delivered from the “present evil age” is the same as dying to the “world.” In... Read more
An extract from a remarkable sermon given by Rev. Dr. Rufus Okikiola Ositelu, Primate of the Church of the Lord (Aladura) at the 1999 Tabieorar festival in Nigeria: Some of you may be asking the following questions: What can the touch of God do in your lives? How can you be touched by the Almighty Father? What will be the results of God’s touch in your lives? Let us take the questions one by one: The touch of God is what you need today,... Read more
Leithart
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In