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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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Immigration

Is Immigration “Decimating” Us?

David Goldman (Spengler) acknowledges that “illegal immigration is a bad thing, and the social costs of a mass influx of poor and uneducated migrants from Mexico and Central America are significant.” Yet he doesn't think it is “one of America’s bigger problems.” That is partly because migration has been declining:…

March 4, 2016

Parallels in Luke-Acts

Rebecca Denova( Things Accomplished Among Us ) provides a good summary of the complex pattern of parallelism that structures Luke and Acts. She points to the parallels between the gospel and the apostolic history: “The baptism of Jesus with water in Luke 3 is paralleled by the community's baptism with…

March 4, 2016

Practical Trinity

A section of Kant's Conflict of Faculties lays out “Philosophical Principles of Scriptural Exegesis for Settling the Conflict” of faculties. The first rule is that a scriptural text whose theoretical claims transcend reason and morality “may be interpreted in the interests of practical reason.” If it contradicts practical reason, it…

March 4, 2016

Moses in Chronicles

Moses isn't mentioned in Chronicles as much as he is in Exodus-Joshua. Naturally. But that doesn't mean that Moses is unimportant to the Chronicler. As James Sparks notes ( The Chronicler's Genealogies ), Moses is more prominent in Chronicles than in almost every other book outside the Pentateuch. The Chronicler…

March 3, 2016

Tristan and Courtly Love

According to WTH Jackson's Anatomy of Love , Gottfried of Strausburg's version of the Tristan story marks a critical change from courtly romance. Instead of the shadowy, unknown lady of those poems, she is a real character. Isolde is no mere “psychological catalyst” for Tristan , as Laudine is for…

March 3, 2016
Atonement

Gospel as Atonement Theory

In a characteristically pithy essay, Robert Jenson has decried the “two paired errors” of traditional atonement theory. On the one hand, the cross is separated “from its future, in the resurrection” and, on the other, from “its past in the canonical history of Israel.” For the apostles, crucifixion is “anything…

March 3, 2016

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