Yahweh’s opening speech in Exodus 10 is arranged as a parallel structure: A. Go; I have hardened Pharaoh’s heart B. That I may perform signs C. that you may tell to sons and sons of sons A’. I made a mockery of Egypt B’. I performed signs C’. that you may know I am Yahweh A few observations on the contents. (more…) Read more
Steven Wedgeworth writes: “You might want to be more skeptical of Torrance. You (and he) are right to sniff a problem, but the genealogy of that problem is a bit more complicated. Just one example. You blogged on visible and invisible and said that Torrance claimed later Federalism moved beyond the Scots Confession on visible/invisible church stuff. But in chapter 16 of the Scots Confession the church is defined as invisible and ‘known only to God, who alone knows whom... Read more
In his Beyond Greed , Brian Rosner makes the arresting claim that God is a contented God. The fact that God has created a world distinct from Himself Rosner takes as a kind of divine self-limitation. Put that to the side, we can still see the contentment of God in the creation account. Light, separation of light and darkness, and that’s good enough for day 1. God ceases and waits until Day 2 to start again. The pattern is repesated... Read more
Kevin Bywater of Summit Ministries adds this to my comments about Glenn Beck’s “9 principles”: “Beck, being nestled within the Mormon worldview, has no problem conjoining inspiration with imperfection. That is the Mormon understanding of the Bible, is it not? And the imperfection may be found in several locations: (1) the Mormon Church teaches that the Bible has been corrupted over time, both through mistranslation and mis-transmission; (2) the Mormon Church also holds that the Bible is incomplete, a view... Read more
In the October 14 issue of TNR , Leon Wieseltier gives a curmudgeonly defense of publishing negative reviews, specifically of the negative review of Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom published in the same issue. It’s bracing: “A shabby treatment of a consequential subject or a significant form is a corruption, and it is the mark of a reviewer’s depth of conviction, and of her knowledge, to treat it as such, to fight it. An opinion about a book is an opinion about... Read more
The Bible has a lot to say about abuse and oppression of the poor. My question here is, Who are the oppressors? Scripture’s answer is non-discriminatory. All classes and categories of people, as well as institutions and nations, oppress the poor, the helpless, the powerless and defenseless. Isaiah, for instance, castigates the rulers of Judah as “rulers of Sodom” who have failed to seek justice, defend the orphan, plead for the widow (Isaiah 1:10, 17). They “love bribes” and “chase... Read more
A couple juicy nuggets from Jenson: “The speaking of the gospel is the event of predestination in that the gospel gives what it speaks about, but this eschatological efficacy of the gospel is the Spirit. We must parody Barth: the Holy Spirit is the choosing God.” And: “Predestination is simply the doctrine of justification stated in the active voice. if we change ‘We are justified by God alone’ from passive to active we get ‘God alone justifies us.’” Read more
Another old article by James Torrance (in the SJT ) runs through his standard criticisms of federal theology, and adds that it was responsible for producing “an unhappy if not false distinction between the Visible and Invisible Church, which lost sight of the passionate emphasis of the Scots Confession and the older Scottish tradition on the view that there is only One Church, the body of Christ.” He continues: “In the federal scheme, the Invisible Church comprises the elect, known... Read more
Prophesying the restoration from exile (Isaiah 61), Isaiah says that at teh return the mourners in Zion will be comforted. That is filled out as a triple gift (v. 3): 1. Beauty for ashes 2. Oil of joy for mourning 3. Garments of praise for spirit of heaviness Several observations on these gifts. (more…) Read more
I have a limited aim in this little essay. A tiny aim. I am neither attacking Christian participation in sports as such, nor responding to all the arguments that Christians use to defend sports. I address only one argument, and I offer a simple historical response that is admittedly broad and general. I don’t prove or disprove anything. I only step to the flagpole to raise high my banner, a banner emblazoned with a prominent question mark. The argument that... Read more
Leithart
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