Christian Eberhart of Lutheran Theological Seminary gave a presentation on the nature of sacrifice. I’m not a stickler for method, but there were basic methodological problems with Eberhart’s approach. He started from a definition of sacrifice from Wolfhart Stegeman, which laid out four meanings of the word “sacrifice” in modern European languages. (more…) Read more
Lawrence Wellborn gave a fascinating paper on Alain Badiou’s treatment of Paul. I’m not sure I can summarize everything in his rich and wide-ranging paper, but I’ll try to get some of the main themes in the enumerated points below. 1) He began with a summary of what Badiou means by a “truth event.” This is a “rupture” or “tear” in the social fabric that restructures the coordinates of desire, and is part of the progression of human beings from... Read more
INTRODUCTION When Jesus comes into the world, He claims that the “time is fulfilled,” and the rest of the New Testament fills this out. With the coming of Jesus, a new age begins. We live in a different time because of Jesus, and this different time should be embodied in our time-keeping, in our calendar. THE TEXT “Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he... Read more
In his recent book on Austen Farrer ( Light in a Burning-Glass ), Robert Slocum notes that farrer recognized that human beungs are never themselves by themselves. Children are “like idiots in the cradle” who would remain so “if no one had smiled them into smiling back, or talked us into talking.” We become humans when we “we are smiled and talked into being so.” So too, we are “talked and loved into religious belief.” Read more
An SBL paper attempts to apply post-colonial theory to the “Deuteronomistic” view of women as de-humanized sexualized temptresses. He of course places Deuteronomistic history late, and thus itself “post-colonial,” and he conveniently claims that any contrary evidence in Deuteronomy (eg, ch. 21). Most problematic: What does he gain with his use of the theory? Not much. He already knows what view of women Deuteronomy will have before he looks at the text. Theory tells him. Who needs to do research? Read more
An SBL paper yesterday suggested that Zechariah 9-14 forms the narrative substructure for 1 Peter. Both passages speak in terms of a new exodus, both talk about the death of a shepherd, both describe the fiery trials of the people of God as an inherent part of the exodus. Why is there a fiery trial associated with the exodus event? (more…) Read more
Gregory Beale examined the OT background of John’s claim that “this is the last hour,” tracing it mostly back to Daniel 8-12, the only place where he could locate a combination of “last” and “hour.” He claimed that John was talking about the eschatological trial that was inaugurated in his day, but one that continued through the whole church age. It seems better to me to see it as the eschatological trial of the first century. John is (as Beale... Read more
Nicolae Roddy of Creighton University pointed out in an SBL paper that the Jews were not required to sacrifice to the emperor. It was a passing point, but it raises the question of why there would be such a massive difference between Christian and Jewish. Jews were just as monotheistic, just as intolerant of idolatry, as Christians, yet Christians were persecuted. I suspect that it’s the innovativeness of Christianity – Judaism was sanctified by long tradition and Christianity was not.... Read more
Eusebius quotes selections from Dionysius of Alexandria’s response to Nepos’s millennial reading of Revelation. Dionysius notes that some believe that “the author of the book was not even one of the saints, or a member of the church, but Cerinthus, the founder of the sect called Cerinthian after him.” Dionysius does not agree, but neither does he think the John of Revelation is identical to the John of the gospel: “I am not prepared to admit that he was the... Read more
In 325, Constantine wrote a letter announcing the deposition of Eusebius of Nicomedia. As Timothy Barnes points out, it exemplifies the “pattern of respect tempered with frustration” that characterized Constantine’s relations with the bishops. One passage is reminiscent of Paul’s rebuke of the Galatians: “it was truly worthy of wonder to bring into concord so many nations who were recently said not to know God. Yet what were these nations with no part in the conflict likely to perceive? What,... Read more
Leithart
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