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Hermeneutics

The Structure of the Joseph Narrative

(Genesis 37:2 – 50:26) A. Generations of Jacob, 37:2a B. Joseph hated by brothers, 37:2b C. Jacob’s discriminatory blessing, 37:3-4 D. Rule over family: vision, 37:5-11 E. Joseph seeks brothers, 37:12-17 F. Joseph "killed," 37:18-36 G. Judah’s sin, ch. 38 H. Imprisonment, though undeserved, ch. 39-40 I. Famine and Pharaoh,…

by James B. JordanJanuary 4, 1999
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Exodus

Crisis Time: Patriarchal Prologue, Part 5

Moses and Jesus The gift of the Father is a son, but we must be ready to give our sons back to Him when it is time. The gift of the Brother is an estate, but we must be ready to give our estates back to Him when it is…

by James B. JordanJanuary 4, 1999
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Ecclesiology

Of The Church

An Exposition of Chapter XXV of the Westminster Confession of Faith I. The Catholic or universal Church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the…

by Mark HorneDecember 5, 1998
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Biblical Horizons

From Plato to NATO: The Idea of the West and Its Critics

From Plato to NATO: The Idea of the West and Its Critics , by David Gress (New York: Free Press, 1998). This book came into my hands after I had finished my series of essays on Western Civilization. It is so good that I was tempted to summarize it in…

by James B. JordanDecember 4, 1998
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American Politics

Buchanan and Free Trade

In a recent issue of the Chalcedon Report (March, 1999), R. J. Rushdoony praises Patrick Buchanan’s book The Great Betrayal (Boston: Little Brown, 1998), a defense of protectionism. Rushdoony claims that the conflict between free trade and tariffs is a religious conflict, and he is correct. Unfortunately and surprisingly, he…

by James B. JordanDecember 4, 1998
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Esther

Crisis Time: Patriarchal Prologue, Part 4

Joseph and Esther The third patriarch was Joseph, and the third phase of pre-gospel history is the Restoration. We have not spent time looking particularly at the Joseph narrative heretofore, because it is different in cast from the Abraham and Jacob ones. There is no explicit promise, fulfillment, and crisis…

by James B. JordanDecember 4, 1998

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Commodification and Community

Commodification is a three step dance, according to John McKnight and Peter Block ( Abundant Community ). It begins by identifying a human condition; it redescribes the condition as a problem that can be fixed; and then it sells the fix (39). The fix gets reduced to elements and then…

September 27, 2018

Adam and Israel

I don't agree with Seth Postell's fundamental thesis in Adam as Israel . He states the thesis as follows: "when understood as the introduction to the Torah and the Tanakh as a whole, Genesis 1-3 intentionally foreshadows Israel's failure to keep the Sinai Covenant as well as their exile from…

September 26, 2018

Josiah's Sabbath

The Chronicler carefully lays out the chronology of Josiah's reign (2 Chronicles 34-35). 1)Becomes king at age of 8 (34:1). 2) In the eighth year of his reign, at age 16, Josiah begins to seek God (34:3). 3) In the twelfth year of his reign, at age 20, Josiah begins…

September 25, 2018

Great Awokening

Bo and Ben Winegard analyze today's "Great Awokening" as a religious movement. They deploy the categories of sacredness and purity, priestly privilege, sin, atonement, and absolution to explain "Wokeness" as a religious movement and a status system. They admit to that "many of their moral concerns are entirely legitimate," but…

September 24, 2018

A Thousand From Each Tribe

Here's a connection I missed in my commentary on Revelation. One of hundreds. In Numbers 31, the Lord instructs Moses to take vengeance on the Midianites. The vengeance is for the attack by the Balak of Moab, who joined the Midianites in attacking Israel. Initially, they tried to hire the…

September 19, 2018

The Social, Wholes, and Structuralism

In a chapter in The Social in Question , Bruno Latour summarizes the work of 19 th -century sociology Gabriel Tarde. Latour is particularly interested in the anti-structuralist import of Tarde’s social metaphysics and anthropology. Tarde writes, for instance, “In general, there is more logic in a sentence than in…

September 19, 2018

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