Emil Brunner acknowledges that “The message of the Cross is the central mystery of the scriptural Gospel.” In his view, it “is not the task of theology to explain these mysteries: for if explanation were possible these mysteries would only be fortuitous mysteries, and thus not real and divine.” But that doesn’t mean that we can avoid the question of what the mystery means: “it is only the meaning of these mysteries which gives us the right to regard them as the Word of... Read more
In his essay in The Epistle to the Hebrews and Christian Theology, Nehemia Polen explores what light the letter to Hebrews throws on the purposes and rituals of Leviticus. Contrary to many popular understanding, the focus of Leviticus is not forgiveness, but rather has to do with the maintenance of Yahweh’s presence among His people. Contrary to much scholarly opinion, Polen doesn’t think that blood is primarily a detergent to cleanse sancta, but rather a “covenant sign . . . [a] reminder... Read more
In his commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Romans (60-1), Peter Stuhlmacher argues that Paul’s use of hilasterion in Romans 3:25 refers not to a “propitiation” but to a “place” of atonement. The import is that Jesus’ death radically alters the terrain of atonement. Stuhlmacher writes that through Christ’s redemption “God has . . . completed and brought to an end the sacrificial cult of atonement in the Jerusalem temple in that he has publicly appointed Jesus (on Golgotha) to be... Read more
In a recent discussion of penal substitution in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Garry Williams responds to the criticism that penal theories of the atonement are un-Trinitarian because they make the Son an object to the Father. Williams stresses that Jesus is a “subject of the atonement,” the doer of the deed of reconciling the world to God, not merely a passive object. But can we say He was an object in any sense? Williams thinks so: “he... Read more
Teju Cole pays tribute to Krzysztof Kie?lowski’s 1996 film Red in the December 22 issue of The New Yorker. The film tells a small, quiet tale, a film of “hushed intensity” and conveys “the sense of inner workings not fully grasped.” A woman in Geneva, Valentine, runs over a dog. She tracks down the owner, a retired judge named Joseph, and the film tracks their friendship, which is “not a romance but a series of tenderly exchanged confidences.” Meanwhile, Valentine’s neighbor, a... Read more
PT Forsyth responds to the charge that the church is slow to accomplish her mission because of her unfaithfulness with this neat inversion (Work of Christ, 21): “Do you really find that the deeper you get into Christ and the meaning of His demands Christianity spreads faster in your heart? Is it not very much the other way? When it comes to close quarters you have actually to be got down and broken, that the old man may be pulverised and the new man created... Read more
Jack Miles a rambling, erudite, sometimes-insightful, half-hearted defense of religious faith to cultured despisers in the Atlantic. He found that as he matured, his youthful enthusiasm for Bertrand Russell and Camus waned. Turns out that science doesn’t overcome human ignorance like Russell thought it would: “with every increase in knowledge, there occurs a greater increase in ignorance. The result is that our ignorance always exceeds our knowledge, and the gap between the two grows infinitely greater, not smaller, as infinite... Read more
White Christmas (1954) has been part of family Christmases for as long as I can remember. Bing Crosby’s voice is wonderful, but his middle-age-man-playing-hip hasn’t worn well over the years. Danny Kaye’s cracked-voice nervousness, his silly humor, and his surprisingly skillful dancing still work. Like all musicals, the film is thin on plot. It’s schmaltzy, light entertainment, a mid-century Hollywood specialty Irving Berlin’s songs are catchy, sometimes clever. The title song had already won an Academy Award (for Holiday Inn, 1942).... Read more
Pannenberg’s treatment of the atonement in Jesus – God and Man is one of the best short discussions of the subject available. Unlike most classical atonement theologies, Pannenberg’s integrates the whole gospel story and the resurrection into his account of the meaning of the atonement. One of the best parts is his discussion of substitution. He has high praise for Luther, but faults him for basing substitution not on “the human course of the event” but on the incarnation (278). His... Read more
Ben Meyer (The Aims of Jesus, 132) summarizes Jesus message as consisting of two themes: The kingdom of God is a free gift; and it has come in Jesus’ own ministry. Jesus preaches a kingdom that is free and now. It is a demanding kingdom. The free gift of the kingdom demands repentance. But Meyer says that it is precisely the freedom of the kingdom, its sheer gratuity, that inspires repentance: “In rabbinic debate on the necessity of repentance for... Read more
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