David Chilton points out (Days of Vengeance, 359-60), this central section itself has an intriguing structural significance, linking to the scene of the Lamb in heaven (5:6-11): Revelation 5 Revelation 14 I saw a Lamb standing (v. 6) I looked, and behold, a Lamb was standing (v. 1) between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders (v. 6) before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders (v. 3) the twenty-four elders having each... Read more
Much of Revelation is overtly structured by sequences of seven. Even when the seven sections are not enumerated, heptamerous structuring devices are prominent. It’s there in Revelation 12-15, for instance. The section is enclosed by references to the opening of the heavenly temple (11:19; 15:6), and within that frame there is a seven-section chiasm: A. Signs in heaven: The dragon, the woman, and the child, 12:1-17 B. Beast from the sea, 13:1-10 C. Beast from the land, 13:11-18 D. Lamb... Read more
In his contribution to Three Faiths, One God, Jacob Neusner explains that the Mishnah answered the question, With no temple, is Israel still holy? The Mishnah’s answer was Yes, but then it had to explain how it was so: “Israel indeed is holy, and so far as the media of sanctification persist beyond the destruction of the holy place—and they do endure—the task of holy Israel is to continue to conduct that life of sanctification that had centered upon the Temple.... Read more
Patrick Deneen nails it next door at the main First Things site. Read the whole article, but here are a few money quote:s “The decision by corporate leaders to take a political stand over a controversial issue is therefore of great interest. Corporations and business leaders almost always avoid political statements and announcements, recognizing that such declarations have the effect of unnecessarily alienating potential customers. Corporations live in constant fear of bad publicity that can ruin a brand carefully erected... Read more
Yahweh descends on Sinai surrounded by a fiery cloud, full of thunder and lightning. When we get a closer look at the cloud, as we do in Ezekiel, we realize that it is a cloud of angels. Yahweh moves about surrounded by the fiery horses and chariots of His hosts. In 2 Kings 6, Elisha is surrounded by an Aramean army, and his servant is frightened. When the Lord opens the servant’s eyes, he sees the mountains full of horses... Read more
In a contribution to Judaism and Christianity, Evan Zuesse questions how H. Richard Niebuhr’s analysis of Christ and culture might apply to Judaism. While he recognizes that Jewish responses to culture fit roughly into Niebuhr’s categories, he finds that the whole set-up doesn’t stand up to close analysis: “if we redefine ‘culture’ to include Torah, so as to accept as much as possible of Niebuhr’s definitions, we must do just the same with ‘Christ.’ After all, all human affairs occur within... Read more
Matthew Levering presents a typically careful, judicious summary of David Novak’s analysis of supersessionism in his Christian-Jewish Dialogue and the Life of Wisdom. Along the way he points out (following Novak) that even Christian rejection of “harsh supersessionism” (which claims that Jews have no continuing covenantal status) doesn’t overcome the head-on, mutually exclusive claims of the two faiths. Levering observes (17) that each side claims “the continuation of biblical Israel.” For some Christians, “the claim to be the fullness of ‘Israel’ might... Read more
When Augustine turns to the typology of unclean foods in his reply to Faustus, he introduces a linguistic analogy that lays a foundation for the later arguments. Paul’s claim that all things are clean (1 Timothy 4:4) does not contradict the Old Testament, since Paul is talking about the nature of things and not about what they signified in the old economy. Unclean meats, like Sabbath and circumcision, provided “certain prophetic signs suited to that time.” What was unclean was... Read more
Though Augustine had the arsenal of the contra Iudaeos tradition at hand in responding to Faustus, he had become dissatisfied with it. After his debate with Fortunatus the Manichean, Augustine had embarked on a deep study of Paul and Genesis and came to recognize the weaknesses of this tradition, whose arguments were neither faithful to the biblical text nor convincing responses to heretics. We can see the difficulty in his initial rebuttal to Faustus’ attack on the Old Testament. In... Read more
As is well known from Confessions, Faustus played a crucial role in Augustine’s formation. As a young Manichean Auditor and devotee of astrology, Augustine puzzled over philosophical and quasi-scientific conundrums that he wanted to pose to a Manichean master. When Bishop Faustus visited Carthage, Augustine found him affable, humble, charming, but unable or unwilling to give an opinion on speculative or dogmatic questions. Faustus’s combination of Manicheanism and Academic skepticism, the latter learned from his reading of Cicero, gave his... Read more
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