The first thing that came on my computer screen when I clicked the link to look over Ethan Zuckerman’s Atlantic essay on the ad-based web was a pop-up. Oh, the irony! as my kids like to say. Zuckerman has been in the web industry for a couple of decades, and in his essay he looks back to the early days, when he and his associates at Tripod.com were trying to come up with a business model: “At the end of the... Read more
One of Douglas Campbell’s essays in Beyond Old and New Perspectives on Paul deals the dikaio– language of Paul, both as a noun (righteousness, dikaiosune) and as a verb (“justify,” dikaioo). Addressing the latter, Campbell rightly highlights the importance of Romans 6:7: “whoever has died is justified from sin.” Citing Robin Scroggs, he argues that “the one who has died” is Christ Himself, and therefore that He is in the first instance the one who has been liberated from sin. Campbell... Read more
One of Douglas Campbell’s essays in Beyond Old and New Perspectives on Paul deals the dikaio– language of Paul, both as a noun (righteousness, dikaiosune) and as a verb (“justify,” dikaioo). Addressing the latter, Campbell rightly highlights the importance of Romans 6:7: “whoever has died is justified from sin.” Citing Robin Scroggs, he argues that “the one who has died” is Christ Himself, and therefore that He is in the first instance the one who has been liberated from sin. Campbell... Read more
The first way to honor the Passion as a mysterion, Jenson argues, is liturgical (Theology as Revisionary Metaphysics, 132-3): “We understand the cross as our reunion with God when we ourselves are made actors in the cross’s story,” especially, he argues, in the three-day celebration of Pascha. The liturgy, “transcending the limitations of the creeds and the doctrines taught in schools . . . kept understanding of the atonement alive for so many centuries.” What happens when the atonement is... Read more
Jesus comes to a fig tree looking for fruit, and finds only leaves. He curses the tree (Mark 11:12-14). In the next scene, He’s in the temple throwing the furniture and calling it a den of brigands (vv. 15-18). The next morning, the fig tree is withered, and Jesus talks about throwing the temple mount into the sea with prayer (vv. 20-26). The fig tree is the temple. Like all trees, the temple serves as a canopy and a covering... Read more
Jesus comes to a fig tree looking for fruit, and finds only leaves. He curses the tree (Mark 11:12-14). In the next scene, He’s in the temple throwing the furniture and calling it a den of brigands (vv. 15-18). The next morning, the fig tree is withered, and Jesus talks about throwing the temple mount into the sea with prayer (vv. 20-26). The fig tree is the temple. Like all trees, the temple serves as a canopy and a covering... Read more
Chris Tilling’s Beyond Old and New Perspectives on Paul reviews, summarizes, evaluates the work of Douglas Campbell, especially his monumental The Deliverance of God. It’s a thorough review. There are essays from leading New Testament scholars, and Campbell responds to each, and also contributes several substantial essays of his own, to which others respond. In his essay on the dikaio– language of Paul, Campbell highlights the connection between God’s righteousness and His kingship. Drawing on Richard Hays, Campbell argues, as he did... Read more
One of the themes of Andrea Gabriel’s summary of Barth’s Doctrine of Creation is that, for Barth, the doctrine of creation is a doctrine about God. This brings some fresh insights to the fore. It means, Barth insists, that “God” is not “synonymous with the concept of a world-cause, rightly or wrongly postulated, disclosed or fulfilled” (quoted p. 13). When God is called Creator, it refers to a “completed act of God, yet also to the one who is still involved... Read more
Jenson gives a concise summary of the weaknesses of traditional atonement theories (Theology as Revisionary Metaphysics, 128-30). There are “two paired errors.” The first separates the cross “from its future, in the resurrection.” As Jenson says, without the resurrection, the “in the Bible’s general view of reality, a crucifixion would be anything but beneficial.” The apostles don’t talk about the cross without its future; their message is, “Jesus was put to death by the hands of sinful men, but God... Read more
In the Song of Songs, the Lover calls His beloved out to romp, encouraging her by telling her it’s the time of love – springtime, when everything comes back to life. There are seven signs of the new creation of spring: winter past, rain over, flowers appear, pruning, turtledoves coo, unripe figs (olunthos) ripen, vines blossom and give fragrance (Song of Songs 2:11-13). Unripe figs are mentioned only once in the New Testament, in Revelation 6, which compares stars of... Read more
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