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Art

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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Doing Ahab

Micah condemns the people of Judah for following the ways of Omri and Ahab. We know from Kings that this is precisely what Judah has been doing. Within Micah 6, though, there is a sharp pun. Verse 16 condemns Judah for doing the works of the house of Ahab, while…

January 9, 2008

Good for Adam

Faced with the indictment from the prophet Micah, Israel asks what it can do to pacify a scarily angry Yahweh. No number of ascensions will do the trick: What Yahweh requires is justice, covenant loyalty, humility (Micah 6:6-8). The famous “Micah Mandate” is addressed to “man,” which translates adam .…

January 9, 2008

Sermon Outline, First After Epiphany

INTRODUCTION Micah continues his indictment of Israel and Israel’s leaders. But in chapter 6, he gives positive instruction. What God demands is what is good - justice, lovingkindness, and humility (v. 8). THE TEXT “Hear now what the LORD says: ‘Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the…

January 9, 2008
History

Modernism’s challenge

Gabriel Josipovici has a stimulating piece in the November 30 TLS arguing that the modernists pose an enduring challenge to contemporary culture, particularly the contemporary novel. Modernism, he suggests, began with the French Revolution, when it was declared that “everyone was equal now and everyone, in principle, had equal opportunities.…

January 4, 2008

Wedding Sermon

1 John 4:7-8: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. Let us Pray Heavenly Father, You have eternally loved Your Son…

January 2, 2008
Art

Aesthetic Autonomy

Taruskin also gives a new summary of the artistic theory behind many of the lamentations of classical music’s collapse, which he traces from Mendelssohn through Kant to Schopenhaur and Adorno: “The main tenet of the creed is the defense of the autonomy of the human subject as manifested in art…

January 1, 2008

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