Advent seems to be about the shame of God, but this is nothing new. Long before the incarnation, God risked shame. He chose elderly Abraham and his barren wife – strangers and aliens, without country, without city, without seed – as the unlikely parents of His people. Yahweh became their God. Long before Jesus, God began to enter into flesh. Whenever we commit to people and causes and projects, we place ourselves at the mercy of others. We put our... Read more
Hebrews 11:16 is arranged chiastically: A. Now a better they seek, that is, a heavenly B. therefore not ashamed of them (Gr. ouk epaischunetai autous ) C. God (Gr. ho theos ) C’. God (Gr. theos ) B’. to be called of them ( epikaleisthai auton ) A’. For He prepared for them a city. “Not ashamed” and “to be called” are linked not only structurally but aurally by the assonance of the two verbs. Plus, the structure helps fill... Read more
Over at the First Things site, David Hart launches out at the Oxfordians, ending with this suggestion: “No Oxfordian has yet convincingly responded to the ‘stylometry’ problem, for instance. If they were really on their game, however, they would argue that this merely exposes another conspiracy hitherto unsuspected, and that the works commonly attributed to Oxford are clearly products of another hand. I propose Francis Bacon. As for the inevitable discovery of similar incompatibilities between Bacon’s style and ‘Oxford’s,’ one... Read more
The account of Abraham in Hebrews 11 is divided into four paragraphs, each marked by “by faith” (vv. 8, 9, 11, 17). The account is organized by two overlapping structures. First, there is a parallel cycle: A. Country: Abraham called from Ur, v 8 B. City: Abraham looks for city, vv 9-10 C. Seed: Sarah trusts God for child, vv 11-12 [Center: These died in faith, v 13] A’. Country: They seek a country of the future, vv 14-16a B’.... Read more
I am convinced that the Bible is not pacifist. Read more
The following two posts excerpt from my response to Mark Thiessen Nation and Vigen Guroian, who critiqued my Defending Constantine at a session at the recent AAR national meeting in San Francisco. My response can be summed up with two questions, one for Vigen and one for Mark. To Vigen, my question is “What if they ask?” And to Mark, my question is, “What if they listen?” The force of these questions will become clear as I go. Let me... Read more
Here’s a wonderful example of the depth of Yoder’s OT discussion: “Primal religion assumes the total known community as the bearer of meaning of sacral history: whether it be the whole village, the tribe, the kingdom of even the empire. The sacralization of life in primal cultures binds and unifies along every axis of possible differentiation. The crown and cult reinforce one another. The agricultural is not separated from the military, the government from the land; the regime is not... Read more
Here’s a wonderful example of the depth of Yoder’s OT discussion: “Primal religion assumes the total known community as the bearer of meaning of sacral history: whether it be the whole village, the tribe, the kingdom of even the empire. The sacralization of life in primal cultures binds and unifies along every axis of possible differentiation. The crown and cult reinforce one another. The agricultural is not separated from the military, the government from the land; the regime is not... Read more
John Nugent’s The Politics of Yahweh: John Howard Yoder, the Old Testament, and the People of God [Theopolitical Visions series] is an important contribution to the study of Yoder’s work, as well as a provocative survey of the political development of Israel in the Old Testament. Yoder’s take on the OT is helpful in many regards: He treats the OT as theology, reading it in the light of Christ and as progress toward Christ; he thinks the OT essential to... Read more
A recent New Yorker piece argues that big business remains the driver of economic growth: “the truth is that, from the perspective of the economy as a whole, small companies are not the real drivers of growth. One can see this by looking at the track record of the world’s economies. The developed countries with the highest percentage of workers employed by small businesses include Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Italy—that is, the four countries whose economic woes are wreaking such... Read more
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