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Biblical Horizons

Book Review: The Keys of This Blood: The Struggle for World Dominion Between Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev & the Capitalist West

Malachi Martin, The Keys of This Blood: The Struggle for World Dominion Between Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev & the Capitalist West (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990). Reviewed by Peter J. Leithart. The subtitle of this massive volume gives a good idea of its major theme. Martin, the…

by Peter LeithartJuly 6, 1991
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Biblical Horizons

The Abomination of Desolation, Part 3: An Overview of the Pattern

The Abomination of Desolation: PART 1 The Abomination of Desolation: PART 2 What I intend to do in this series of studies is this: First, in the present essay we shall survey the occurrences of the Abomination of Desolation in the Bible in a cursory way, in order to get…

by James B. JordanJune 22, 1991
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2 Thessalonians

The Abomination of Desolation, Part 2: The Man of Sin

We previously surveyed what is meant by the abomination of desolation . We suggested that it refers to sacrilegious acts performed by the religious leaders of Israel, captained by their High Priest, right in front of God’s face in the Temple. Later studies in this series will provide evidence for…

by James B. JordanJune 22, 1991
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Biblical Chronology

The Framework Hypothesis

Throughout history, the Christian Church has had to guard against the heresy of gnosticism. Gnosticism is not an ordinary heresy, because it does not manifest itself as a set of defined beliefs. Rather, gnosticism is a tendency, a tendency to replace the historic facts of Christianity with philosophical ideas. Gnosticism…

by James B. JordanJune 22, 1991
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Biblical Horizons

What About the “Seventh Ecumenical Council”?

In Rite Reasons Nos. 9-12, I discussed the errors of Roman Catholicism, Anglo-Catholicism, and Eastern Orthodoxy. I have had several requests to comment further on the so-called Seventh Ecumenical Council, held at Nicaea in A.D. 787. That Council ordered the excommunication of anyone who rejects the veneration of icons. 1…

by James B. JordanJune 22, 1991
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Philippians

The Theology of the Drink Offering

The drink offering or libation ( nesek ) is mentioned in only three places in the book of Leviticus. When the sheaf of the firstfruits was waved before the Lord, a grain offering was to be burned, along with "its libation, a fourth of a hin of wine [approx. one…

by Peter LeithartMay 30, 1991

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The Limits of Brotherhood

Andrew Pettegree ( Reformation and the Culture of Persuasion , 201-2) describes the post-Reformation efforts to cultivate a sense of brotherhood and solidarity among Protestant Christians who had rejected medieval rites and practices of kinship. He quotes a “disenchanted defector” who denied brotherhood “to all who did not adhere to…

December 9, 2016

Up From Flatland

G eography has historically imagined a flat world: “territory, sovereignty and human experience have long been flattened by a paradoxical reliance on flat maps—and, more recently, aerial and satellite images—projected or imaged from the disembodied bird's or God's eye view from high above,” writes Stephen Graham in Verical (1). He…

December 9, 2016

Post-Enlightenment Apocalyptic

A ccording to Cyril O'Regan, von Balthasar saw Hegel and Heidegger as the great exemplars of post-Enlightenment mis-remembering ( Anatomy of Misremembering ). Misremembering is not the same as forgetting. To misremember involves a will to overcome forgetfulness, but at the same time distorts what is remembered. Misremembering overcomes amnesia,…

December 9, 2016

Monstrous Revelations

N ear the beginning of his Religion and its Monsters , Timothy Beal points to the etymological hint that monsters might have some inherent connection to religion: “the monster's religious import is rooted in the word itself: ‘monster' derives from the Latin mon­s trum , which is related to the…

December 9, 2016

Come out!

“C ome out from her!” says a heavenly voice to the saints (Revelation 18). Come out from Babylon, the harlot city, the doomed city. Commentators hasten to spiritualize: The command doesn't require a change of place but only a metaphorical exodus, an exodus of the heart. It's a flight from…

December 8, 2016

Faith in a Time of Crisis

K ing Ahaz of Judah is in a panic. Israel and Aram have allied to resist Assyria's expansion, and they are pressuring Ahaz to join the alliance. If he refuses, they will overthrow Judah and replace him with another king. The result may be the end of the Davidic line.…

December 8, 2016

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