From the Russian mystic Nikolay Fydorov: “The task of the fathers, the parents, ends with the upbringing of the children; then begins the task of the sons, who restore life. In giving birth to and raising their children, the parents give life to them, while the task of resurrection belongs . . . . Continue Reading »
Exodus 17:5-6: And the LORD said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water . . . . Continue Reading »
On New Year’s Eve, an Egyptian Muslim blew himself up outside a Coptic church in Alexandria, killing 25 Christians and injuring 90 others. At the end of January this year, eleven Christians were killed in a massacre in the village of Sharona. These were only two of many attacks on Coptic . . . . Continue Reading »
In her Voracious Idols and Violent Hands: Iconoclasm in Reformation Zurich, Strasbourg, and Basel , Lee Palmer Wandel shows that images in medieval Christianity were modes of God’s presence. In attacking images, Protestant iconoclasts were acting on an alternative understanding of that . . . . Continue Reading »
Why did Luther react so violently to Zwingli on the one hand and the Anabaptists on the other? He wasn’t because he insisted on his own formula for the real presence or baptism. As Jaroslav Pelikan pointed out in his 1968 Spirit versus Strcuture , “when Luther was confronted with a . . . . Continue Reading »
Doug Bandow wrote the following for the American Spectator Online back in January: “Dina Guirguis of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy testified last week before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the House Foreign Affairs Committee: ‘Egypt’s native Christians . . . . . Continue Reading »
A number of students writing on John 13 have noticed the oddity that Jesus washes the disciples feet - an act of hospitality in preparation for a meal - but then they never eat. It’s a feast interrupted. I suspect that has something to do with the interaction between John and Revelation. For . . . . Continue Reading »
A student notes that foot-washing is an act of hospitality, in places like Genesis 18 and elsewhere. It is also required of priests entering the tabernacle. These amount to the same thing. Priests are given water to wash as they are welcomed into Yahweh’s house. Purity rules are, perhaps, not . . . . Continue Reading »
Jesus kept all the laws. He never broke the Sabbath. He fulfilled the purity rules, I blurted out in class a few days ago. How? a student want to know. How does Jesus keep purity rules? Here’s my best, belated shot: Levitical purity rules are rules of cleansing. Just as the force of the . . . . Continue Reading »
“Sacramental union” between the “sign” and the “thing” can and has been used to separate: Because there are two entities, sign and union, it’s possible that there is one without the other. In classic Reformed theology, “sacramental union” . . . . Continue Reading »
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