In a long and illuminating post, “Buttonwood” of the Economist offers this provocative angle on the debt crisis: “how about thinking of the last 40 years as one long bubble, in which fiat money has led to asset price inflation. Before you dismiss the idea, think about this; with gold at $1250 an ounce, the dollar has lost 97% of its purchasing powe in terms of what used to be though of as ‘real money’ since 1971. The Romans took... Read more
I have offered some reflections on the current evangelical murmur about social justice at www.firstthings.com. Read more
Describing Constantine’s deathbed baptism, Alan Kreider ( The Change of Conversion and the Origin of Christendom ) observes that “it is impressive that the church leaders required Constantine to go through all this. For many years they, faced with a potential recruit of no less power and eminence than the emperor . . . nevertheless held him at arm’s length. And when they eventually received him, they did so only on the condition that he go through the well-tried conversion... Read more
In his epistle ad Donatum , Cyprian left this searching analysis of the challenges of converting from a luxurious and honor-driven aristocratic life to a Christian one: “While I was still lying in darkness and gloomy night, wavering hither and there, tossed about on the foam of this boastful age, and uncertain of my wandering steps, knowing nothing of my real life, and remote from truth and light, I used to regard it as a difficult matter, and especially as... Read more
Paul is not ashamed of the gospel (Romans 1:16). We psychologize: Some might be embarrassed to preach a crucified Christ, but not Paul. He glories in the shame. That’s true enough, but Paul’s emphasis lies elsewhere, according to Neil Elliott ( The Arrogance of Nations: Reading Romans in the Shadow of Empire (Paul in Critical Context) (Paul in Critical Contexts) ): “The revelation of the justice of God is an occasion of power, a power that empowers [Paul’s] defiant refusal... Read more
Until the Reformation, virtually all translations of the New Testament translated the Pauline phrase pistis Christou as “the faith of Christ,” that is, the father exercised by Christ (a “subjective” genitive), rather than “faith in Christ” (an “objective” genitive). The Vulgate, for instance, straightforwardly rendered it as fide Christi . From the Reformation until the late twentieth century, Protestant interpreters hardly noticed that a subjective reading was possible. That all changed with the publication of Richard Hays’s seminal The Faith... Read more
The table of nations (Genesis 10) initially lists Noah’s sons in the common order: Shem, Ham, Japheth. In the body of the list, however, the order is reversed: First descendants of Japheth, then Ham, then Shem. In the history of Israel, the list is reversed again. Israel begins in subjection to Mizraim/Egypt, a Hamite people (Genesis 10:6). But during the closing days of Israel’s monarchy, they are successively subject to Shemites, Hamites, and finally Japhethites. Asshur is Semitic (10:22), and... Read more
Perriman offers a careful assessment of the “faith of Jesus” question. He notes the differences between the verb pisteuo and the noun pistis , notes as well the differences between Habakkuk’s use of the word and the use of the verb in Genesis 15, and concludes: “The verb pisteuo is unambiguous: it denotes the act of believing or having faith in something or someone . . . . The noun, however, can mean i) ‘belief/faith in’ something or someone, or... Read more
Perriman’s subtitle is “Reading Romans Before and After Western Christendom.” The before and after are important. If Paul’s gospel in Romans is an announcement about God’s wrath against the oikoumene and the vindication of those who trust Jesus, then it is fulfilled in the overturning of Roman order. Perriman bites the bullet and suggests that Paul’s gospel is fulfilled in Christendom. In a passing comment on Daniel 7, he writes, “I wonder whether it is really too fanciful to suggest... Read more
Andrew Perriman’s The Future of the People of God: Reading Romans Before and After Western Christendom offers a highly stimulating re-reading of Paul and of Romans in particular. Perriman argues that Romans, like the prophetic books of the Old Testament, is directed at a specific historical situation. In particular, Paul writes to warn the Greco-Roman oikoumene (Perriman’s term) about a day of wrath. Given Israel’s own unfaithfulness, Jews too stand under judgment, the judgment that Jesus predicted during His lifetime.... Read more
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