Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
This month we begin to set down in order comments on all the calendrical and chronological statements in the Pentateuch (Genesis – Deuteronomy), gathering into one place all the fruits of our labors in this area. 1. The Days of Genesis 1 Despite the confusion and the tergiversations surrounding the…
Donald Wesley Patten, Catastrophism and the Old Testament: The Mars-Earth Conflicts (Pacific Meridian Publishing Co., 1988), reviewed by James B. Jordan. In this book, Donald Patten contends that the planet Mars originally had an eccentric orbit that brought it into near proximity to the earth a number of times in…
Last month we began a survey and review of Centuries of Darkness by Peter James. 1 The thesis of this book is that the dark ages that supposedly happened all over the Mediterranean world between about 1100 and 800 B.C. never actually happened, and that these dark ages, as well…
As we consider the Age of the Law, which begins with the public enthronement of Yahweh (the Second Person of God; the Son; the Word) on Mount Sinai and then in the Tabernacle, we need to consider the Ten Words. These are generally called the “Ten Commandments,” but that is…
Here, I begin presenting material and research that will, God willing, find eventual publication as Through New Eyes, Volume II. In Through New Eyes (part I) I sought in a general way to explain some of the symbolism and imagery of the Bible, showing that it is through such symbolism…
In 1971 there appeared a privately published book dealing with the problems surrounding the chronology of Egypt as it relates to the Bible: The Exodus Problem and Its Ramifications , by Donovan A. Courville. 1 At the time, Dr. Courville (Ph.D., Chemistry) was emeritus professor of Bio-chemistry at the School…
Showing page 281 of 309
Showing page 4 of 43
Yahweh’s name is His name is supposed to be continuously ( tamid ) praised, but it is blasphemed (or “provoked”) continuously ( tamid ; Isaiah 52:5). Yahweh continues: “Therefore My people shall know My name” (v. 6). How “therefore”? How will Israel know Yahweh’s blasphemed name? The answer is found…
Yahweh calls Zion to shake off her dust (Isaiah 52:2). Dust is the place of mourning; Zion sits in dust and ashes. Adam was made from dust, and in death returned to dust; dust is the grave, and Zion is a new Eve, called out of the grave to rise…
Yahweh calls Zion from her sleep and excitedly orders her to get dressed (Isaiah 52:1). Like the call to “Awake! Awake!” the order to put on clothes is doubled: Clothe yourself with strength, Zion. Clothe yourself in garments of beauty, Jerusalem. Two observations: First, the call to be clothed in…
Arendt has some sharp observations on the dangers of bureaucratization in On Violence (81): “Bureaucracy is the form of government in which everybody is deprived of political freedom, of the power to act; for the rule by Nobody is not no-rule, and here all are equally powerless we have a…
Is it fitting for Jesus, who died so ignominiously, to be buried in splendor? Thomas has various answers to that question ( ST III, 51, 2), but I think the best answers are inherent to the literary structure and themes of the gospel, especially John. Matthew tells us that Joseph…
The notion that death can be life-giving doesn’t appear to make philosophical sense, Thomas notes ( ST III, 50, 6). Death is a privation of life, and a privation doesn’t have power to act. Therefore, no death, including Christ’s, has power to give life. Thomas admits that Christ’s death (as…
Showing page 776 of 2212
Your weekly digest for all things Theopolis.
