Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In a brief article entitled, “The Theology of Old Testament Sacrifice," Gordon Wenham, expanding on a comment about ritual from anthropologist Monica Wilson, states: We resort to ritual when we want to express our deepest feelings. Consider the rituals used in greeting people in our society: a nod, a handshake,…
Everyone here in Cambridge is talking about sacrifice. My supervisor, Dr. John Milbank, is working on a book on gift in which he is dealing with recent literature on sacrifice. The graduate seminar in Systematics during Michaelmas Term focused on the theme of sacrifice. The first presenter was Dr. Ian…
Protestant-Catholic debates about the sacraments have usually taken the form of debates about sacramental efficacy. Protestants claim that Catholics believe that sacraments work ex opere operato , virtually a magical view of the sacraments. A priest goes through the motions and says the hocus-pocus and "presto!" the sacraments confer grace.…
When Israel came out of Egypt, she was a collection of tribes descended from the Tribe of Abraham. Tribalism drops out of history into the "world" by looking back to ancestors and by orienting to the spirits that govern the world. The world must not be manipulated, because to do…
Angels are the mediators of the Old Creation, as Eugenio Corsini has rightly pointed out in his commentary, The Apocalypse. For this reason, argues Corsini, the book of Revelation must have to do with the final end of the Old Creation order, which he associates with the work of Jesus…
Our procedure in "Through New Eyes Volume 2" thus far has been to lay out the general overview of history and its meaning as the Bible presents it. My hope is to fill this out in four major sections, corresponding to the four ages and the four testaments in the…
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Psalm 38 says some shocking things about God. He is wrathful toward David (v. 1). He is not just distant; indeed, he is altogether too near, near as an enemy, ready to attack. Yahweh has drawn his bow and beaten David down with His hand of power (v. 2). Some…
An elder tells John to stop weeping because someone worthy has been found in heaven (Revelation 5:5). The worthy one is the victorious lion who is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David. How does “root of David” ( he riza David ) fit grammatically? Is it an…
With the ascent of the Lamb (Revelation 5:13-14), the triple-decker vertical dimension of the universe - heaven, earth, sea - has turned into a fourfold arena - heaven, earth, under earth, sea - and this fourfold is populated by “things in them.” This follows a familiar separation-filling pattern. Four zones…
One of the central insights of Jeff Meyers’ book The Lord’s Service is that the liturgy is pre-eminently God’s service to us rather than our service to Him. When we gather each week as His people and bride, He draws near to declare forgiveness, to speak His live-giving Word, to…
Yahweh brings Israel to Sinai and shows Moses the pattern for the tabernacle. For the first time, Yahweh moves into Israel’s neighborhood. The house is closed. Only priests go to the altar, only priests into the holy place, nobody into the most holy place. But focusing on the restrictions on…
Gil Anidjar ( Blood: A Critique of Christianity ) makes the surprising claim that while “there may be a deep link between sacrifice and kinship, indeed, between blood and covenant, it is simply a fact that for the Old Testament, flesh and bone - never flesh and blood - signify…
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