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Biblical Chronology

The Chronology of the Pentateuch (Part 1)

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…

by James B. JordanMarch 6, 1994
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Biblical Chronology

Book Review: Catastrophism and the Old Testament

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…

by James B. JordanFebruary 14, 1994
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Biblical Chronology

Problems With Current Consensus Chronology

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…

by James B. JordanFebruary 14, 1994
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Deuteronomy

The First Word

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…

by James B. JordanFebruary 14, 1994
Biblical Horizons

Through New Eyes, Volume II

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…

by James B. JordanJanuary 6, 1994
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Biblical Chronology

The Egyptian Problem

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…

by James B. JordanJanuary 6, 1994

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Body Work

Like his book on the sacraments , Henry de Candole's brief study of the Eucharist, The Church's Offering , shows that liturgical renewal is inevitably also a renewal of ecclesiology. De Candole distinguishes between private prayers and the public worship of the church. The latter "is not simply the gathering…

March 2, 2018
Modernity

Unrevolutionary Revolution

In the opening essay to Reflexive Modernization , Ulrich Beck defines the phrase in the book's title as "the possibility of a creative (self-)destruction for an entire epoch." This creative destruction is not the product of a crisis but the result of the "victory of Western modernization" (2). Quoting Marx…

March 2, 2018
Medicine

Secular Medicine

In After God , Tristram Engelhardt notes that autonomy is not merely a source of authority in secular culture, but "a cardinal directing value or goal." In today's world, one is "obliged freely to choose in conformity with very particular understandings of freedom. The result is that morally condemning autonomously…

March 2, 2018

Pharisees and Sinners

Just before Luke records Jesus' visit to the home of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:36-50), he records Jesus teaching about the responses of the Jewish leaders to His ministry and the ministry of John (7:30-35). They don't catch the tune of the times, but the tax gatherers and sinners do.…

March 1, 2018

Shakespeare for Lent

The following essay was first published at Firstthings.com . Lent is a time of renunciation and fasting, spiritual striving, self-examination, contrition, and penitence. It seems a grim and black season of self-accusation. But that’s all superficial. Lent is better understood as a season of Christian comedy. It’s not the glum…

March 1, 2018

Who Do You Say That I Am? Part 2

Even after the disciples have seen Jesus calm the storm and walk on the sea, even after they have eaten miracle bread, they don’t understand. They don’t know what we know – that Jesus is Son of God. The problem isn’t a lack of evidence. They have plenty of evidence…

February 28, 2018

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