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Biblical Horizons

Was the Last Supper a Passover?

Some readers of my essay, “ Strange and Glorious New Rites ,” have written to object that I have strained a gnat and swallowed a camel. I have strained out the gnat of a possible link to the memorial bread of the minchah (Lev. 2), while overlooking the camel that…

by James B. JordanMarch 22, 2011
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Biblical Horizons

Planetary Judgments

In his lectures on Comparative Religion, Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy points to five fundamental gods that were over ancient man and still can dominate us today, and which must be respected. When we sin, we respect these gods more than we respect the Creator, disobeying the First Word: “You will have no…

by James B. JordanMarch 22, 2011
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Biblical Studies

Notes on the Book of Judges

A. Israel’s failure to hold land against the Canaanites. Progressive compromise, leading to judgment. 1:1–2:5. B. Israel’s idolatry, the cycle of judges, and war as God’s chastisement. 2:6–3:6. C. Northern Gentiles (Mesopotamia), and Othniel. 3:7-11. D. Lot: Moab, and Ehud. 3:12-13. E. Minor judge: Shamgar. 3:31. F. Canaanites opposed. Women…

by James B. JordanMarch 21, 2011
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Biblical Horizons

Principalities and Powers, (Part 2)

The great question for the emerging East, for Asia and other awakening third world areas, for an emerging nation like China is, “what fate awaits them?” They are now emerging from an analogous paganism that the West emerged from centuries ago. Here an amazing quotation from David Aikman, the Time…

by Richard BledsoeMarch 15, 2011
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Colossians

The Principalities and Powers, Part I

Paul contends that with the death of Christ on the Cross, there was an overcoming of the Principalities and the Powers (Col. 2:15). A great deal has been written on this subject over the last 60 years. What was for a long time either ignored, or regarded by liberal scholars…

by Richard BledsoeMarch 10, 2011
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Biblical Horizons

Eating and Drinking Together

One of the odd customs that has arisen in the 20th century is that many evangelical churches warp the rites of the Lord’s Supper by insisting that everyone wait so that they eat and drink together. Supposedly this is to emphasize the unity of the Church. This practice has no…

by James B. JordanMarch 3, 2011

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In Christ

Scot Hafemann has recently published a collection of previously published essays on Pauline themes, Paul’s Message and Ministry in Covenant Perspective . Hafemann’s characteristic themes are here, most reflected in the title: A covenantal understanding of Paul’s gospel and theology, a pastoral focus, an emphasis on the role of suffering…

February 16, 2015

Victor

The first six chapters of Revelation are a pep talk. Again and again, Jesus makes promises to the victors, those who overcome ( nikao ). They’ll get the tree of life, escape the second death, eat hidden manna, gain authority over the nations, receive a white robe, become pillars in…

February 16, 2015

Voice, Angel, Thunders

Revelation 10 opens with a vision of an angel coming down from heaven. If the angel isn’t Jesus, he is Jesus’ doppelganger: Clothed in a cloud, with a rainbow crown, voice like a lion, carrying a book, like the one the Lamb opened (Revelation 5-7). When the angel speaks, seven…

February 13, 2015

Must the Stretching Stop?

In his recent study of John of Damascus, Perichoresis and Personhood , Charles Twombly expresses concern that contemporary theologians use traditional concepts and formulae “in a manner that betrays little understanding of how they actually developed.” By attending to the way John uses the term, we can “lay claim to…

February 13, 2015

Harmony of the Universe

A lovely passage on Providence from Augustine ( City of God , 5.11). God cannot leave the kingdoms of men, “their dominations and servitudes,” outside His providence. That is not the kind of God He is. Instead: “God supreme and true, with His Word and Holy Spirit (which three are…

February 13, 2015

Barth the Catholic

Donald Norwood’s Reforming Rome is a study of Karl Barth’s contributions and responses to Vatican II. At the outset, Norwood has to establish that Barth, polemical as he was, was truly a catholic theologian. He offers several lines of argument: “In his first teaching post at Gottingen in 1921 [Barth]…

February 13, 2015

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