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The Second Word V: On Images and Art, Part 3

The Failure of the Church Yet a third factor played an important role in this historical development, in addition to the imperial adoption of icons and the rise of the icons of the holy man. Brown writes: "The great Christian basilicas of the previous centuries tended to stand empty, except…

by James B. JordanSeptember 4, 1998
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Biblical Horizons

Patriarchal Dominion

The three large patriarchal narratives of Genesis concern the three aspects of the cosmos: matter, space, and time. Over these three is man given dominion. Lucifer was originally appointed to train man in this dominion, but he chose to lead man into rebellion instead. Thus, the Angel of Yahweh replaced…

by James B. JordanAugust 4, 1998
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Biblical Horizons

The Case Against Western Civilization, Part 6

Part 6: Living in a Dying World (continued) The "Trivium" (continued) The five stages of education are simply the five stages of the covenant as God administers it in human life and history, and in the liturgy of covenant renewal: First, God announces Himself. "I am Yahweh Your God." He…

by James B. JordanAugust 4, 1998
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Biblical Studies

Re-creation in the Ascension Offering

The following essay is tentative and exploratory, offered for your consideration. It seems to me that the ritual of the Ascension Offering (incorrectly translated as Burnt Offering) of Leviticus 1 is a symbolic recapitulation of Genesis 1, which thereby portrays the sacrificial ritual as way of moving from a fallen…

by James B. JordanJuly 4, 1998
Biblical Horizons

The Framework Hypothesis: A Gnostic Heresy

Just as the vast majority of evangelical Christians in America today are Arminian and Baptist, so the vast majority do not believe in a creation around 4000 BC. I don’t expect any of these three situations to change anytime soon. Powerful presuppositions are at work in all three instances, along…

by James B. JordanJuly 4, 1998
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Art

The Second Word V: On Images and Art, Part 2

The Iconoclastic Controversy Continuing Pagan Influence How did images creep in? To begin with, there was in the post-Constantinian Church a concerted effort on the part of the semi-pagans to interpret Christianity in essentially pantheistic terms. The heretics put God and man on a continuum of "being," so that God…

by James B. JordanJuly 4, 1998

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Friday Flurry

Patristic Inerrancy? John Woodbridge contests the widespread notion that Fundamentalists invented the inerrancy of Scripture, that it's a peculiarly post-Cartesian development. He assembles an impressive array of witnesses, including these two quotations from Augustine: "It seems to me that the most disastrous consequences must follow upon our believing that anything…

August 25, 2017

Political Violence and Moral Equivalence

President Trump garbled the message, but he was right. There was violence on both sides during the horrific events in Charlottesville. Racial hatred is evil. Given America's fraught record of discrimination against African-Americans, the KKK, white supremacist groups, and neo-Nazis deservedly have a unique place in America's chamber of horrors.…

August 24, 2017

Worship Is For You

It is often said that we come to worship to give and not to receive. That is a dangerous half-truth. Praise, thanks, adoration are all part of worship, of course, and God delights in our praise. But in worship as in all of life, we have nothing to give unless…

August 24, 2017

Manasseh's Turn

When he became king at the age of twelve, Manasseh of Judah "turned," "built," "raised" altars, prostrated himself, and engaged in liturgical service (2 Chronicles 33:3). It looks like a promising sequence of actions, what all the good kings of Judah did. But the quality of Manasseh's reign turns on…

August 23, 2017

Eternal Creator?

James Dolezal ( All That Is In God ) spends a chapter defending the claim that God is eternal Creator. In the course of this discussion, he interacts with Scott Oliphint's view that God takes on "properties that he otherwise would not have had" when he related to "something ad…

August 22, 2017

Against Theology

The following is an extract from chapter 2 of my Against Christianity (Canon Press, 2003). You can get a 30% discount on the book by entering LEITREADER during checkout at www.canonpress.com/AgainstChristianity The Bible never mentions theology. It does not preach theology, nor does it encourage us to preach theology. Paul…

August 22, 2017

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