Amos Funkenstein observes (Perceptions of Jewish History, 11-12) that “To ancient or primitive societies, in which antiquity or a long pedigree makes for a true aristocracy, youth is a sign of inferiority, and a memory of youth calls for compensatory elements, all the more so if this memory of youth was coupled with a memory of slavery and of otherwise low status.” This was not the view of Israel, which had a “sense of youth,” that was “compensated” by its... Read more
Gil Anidjar (Blood: A Critique of Christianity) makes the surprising claim that while “there may be a deep link between sacrifice and kinship, indeed, between blood and covenant, it is simply a fact that for the Old Testament, flesh and bone – never flesh and blood – signify the basis of elementary communal identity (45). He cites Adam’s first words to Eve (Genesis 2:24), Laban’s appeal to Jacob (Genesis 29:14), Joseph’s brothers (Genesis 37:27), and the men of Israel to... Read more
In his Trinity House lectures on liturgical theology, Jeff Meyers called attention to the anti-liturgy of Genesis 3. Yahweh shows up in glory, meets Adam and Eve, gives a little sermon, kills animals to make skin tunics. The finale is not happy: Adam and Eve are excluded from the garden. There is no feast. What’s missing is confession. Instead of admitting sin when Yahweh arrived, Adam defended himself by blaming Eve. Aaron did the same later when Moses confronted him... Read more
Darrin Belousek argues in Atonement, Justice, and Peace that “penal substitution is inadequate to explain the textual evidence concerning the several rituals of atonement-making” (177). He’s right. Sin offerings were done in cases where sin is not at issue. Following Jacob Milgrom and others, he points out that the rites of the “sin” offering are directed toward the sancta, the holy things of the sanctuary. The blood of sin offerings purges the furnishings of God’s dwelling and consecrates them to remain... Read more
Critical scholarship has made hash of Leviticus. Scholars try to understand the rituals of “P” and “H” without much consideration of the narrative of division, death-sleep, and union that is the creation of Eve. Even the story of Abraham and Isaac is often put to the side as an irrelevancy, and the exodus. You can’t really hope to understand Leviticus if you detach it from the narrative context that makes it understandable. But traditional atonement theories often have an analogous... Read more
Charles Simic laments the decline of educational standards: “An educated, well-informed population, the kind that a functioning democracy requires, would be difficult to lie to, and could not be led by the nose by the various vested interests running amok in this country. Most of our politicians and their political advisers and lobbyists would find themselves unemployed, and so would the gasbags who pass themselves off as our opinion makers. Luckily for them, nothing so catastrophic, even though perfectly well-deserved and widely-welcome,... Read more
The prophets promise that a new David will arise to reign over a united kingdom. Judah and Israel will be bound back together under a single king. That sounds like a prophetic extension of David’s story, but in fact it’s something more like a simple repetition. David was first anointed king, after all, during Saul’s reign, and from that point to Saul’s death the kingdom of Israel was divided between the small band of warriors around David and the company... Read more
The prophets promise that a new David will arise to reign over a united kingdom. Judah and Israel will be bound back together under a single king. That sounds like a prophetic extension of David’s story, but in fact it’s something more like a simple repetition. David was first anointed king, after all, during Saul’s reign, and from that point to Saul’s death the kingdom of Israel was divided between the small band of warriors around David and the company... Read more
At the Trinity House site this morning, Joe Anderson and Tim Nichols argue that catholicity, like love, begins with those nearest to us. Read more
Stephen Finlan (Problems With Atonement, 30-31) observes that “Paul not only interprets OT types, he sometimes sees the antitype in the type.” The Rock that followed Israel was not simply a pointer to Christ but was Christ. Israel already experienced baptism and enjoyed spiritual feasts in the wilderness. Typology here depends on the presence of the future in the past. When Paul brings his typological readings to bear on the church, Finlan recognizes that this is not mere rhetoric: “Paul... Read more
Leithart
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In