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Biblical Studies

Thinking About Church History

This essay takes up from the essay " Thousands of Generations. " In that essay we saw that God has promised to show His faithfulness to thousands of generations of those who love Him. If God is going to do this, then human history will have to last for thousands…

by James B. JordanJune 9, 1994
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Biblical Chronology

The Chronology of the Pentateuch (Part 4)

11. The Life of Abraham 2006 – Noah dies (Gen. 9:29). 2008 – Abram is born of Terah in Ur (Gen. 11:26-32; 12:4; Acts 7:4). 2026 – Reu ben Peleg dies (Gen. 11:20-21). 2042? – Abram and Terah move to Haran (Gen. 11:31-32). 2049 – Serug ben Reu dies (Gen.…

by James B. JordanJune 9, 1994
Authority

The Second Word I: Seeing & Hearing

While this is dated June/July, this essay is actually being finalized and prepared for shipment in November. What this reflects more than anything else is my personal reluctance to take up this topic. The reason is that a number of friends and acquaintances have over the years, some rather recently,…

by James B. JordanJune 5, 1994
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Art

The Enoch Factor

After Cain murdered Abel and was driven out of the land of Eden, we read that he had a son whom he named Enoch, and that he founded a city that he also named Enoch (Genesis 4:17). The city, we are told, was named for his son. This was the…

by James B. JordanMay 25, 1994
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Art

The Importance of the Woman

Now we notice that God said that it was not good for the man to be alone in this task. God determined to make a helper suited to the man (Genesis 2:18). In context, the woman is to help the priest guard and beautify the sanctuary, home, and workplace. Two…

by James B. JordanMay 25, 1994
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Art

The Bride as Artist

Genesis 2:15 says that the first man was commissioned by God to dress and to keep the garden. The garden was located within the land of Eden, which was one among many lands on the earth according to Genesis 2:8-14. The garden was the place where God would meet with…

by James B. JordanMay 25, 1994

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Creation’s desire

Cryptic as always, Hamann writes ( Aesthetica in Nuce ): “Speak, that I might see you! — This desire was fulfilled in creation, which is an address to the creature through the creature.” Dickson notes that this suggests that creation pre-exists itself such that its desire is answered by the…

October 10, 2008

Il n’y a pas de hors-texte

Hamann can repeat this Derridean scandal, quite literally. As Gwen Dickson puts it, “Hamann’s conception of language as speech as a ‘translation’ reveals that at the basis of his thinking there is no language-world dichotomy; language, after all, is part of the world, and moreover the ‘world’ or ‘reality’ or…

October 10, 2008

The Body of the Universe

Athanasius insists that the Word is one, while creatures are many. He anticipates the Arian objection that there is also oneness in creation - one earth and one son. But the oneness of the creation is different from the oneness of the Word. Creatures are one “with respect to its…

October 10, 2008
Theology

Humble God

When the Arians claim that the Father made the Son to make the world, they imply that it is unworthy of God to be so directly involved in the details of the created world. Athanasius ( Orations Against the Arians ) sees that the Arian God is prissy, disdainful of…

October 10, 2008
Philosophy

System v. edification

Rorty: “Great systematic philosophers are constructive and offer arguments. Great edifying philosophers are reactive and offer satires, parodies, aphorisms. They know their work loses its point when they period they were reacting against is over. They are intentionally peripheral. Great systematic philosophers, like great scientists, build for eternity. Great edifying…

October 9, 2008

Isaiah 33

Some scattered notes on Isaiah 33, the product of listening to students comment on the passage in exams throughout the week. 1) Verse 1 includes an interesting variation on the lex talionis. Destroyers will be destroyed, and the treacherous will be dealt with treacherously. But the justice that the Lord…

October 8, 2008

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