Alison Trites ( The New Testament Concept of Witness ) finds parallels between the use of witness in the fourth gospel and that found in Isaiah 40-55: “There the controversy between Yahweh and the false gods turns out to be a lawsuit between God and the world. God is represented by Israel and . . . . Continue Reading »
Isaiah 8:1-3 is puzzling. Yahweh tells Isaiah to take a large tablet (Heb. gillayon ) and write “with the stylus of a man” the phrase Maher-shalal-hash-baz. Isaiah doesn’t write anything, but instead “approoached the prophetess” so that she conceives and gives birth to . . . . Continue Reading »
David Nye points to the fact that experiences of the sublime are not confined to the grand vistas of nature, but are also found in technological and urban civilization. “A city sounds much different at the top of a skyscraper than on the streets below. The wind makes on feel more vulnerable . . . . Continue Reading »
Arnold Pacey argues that the meaning of a particular technology or skill depends not only on conformity with rules but on sensation and on social meaning. For instance, “A cook who does not enjoy the colors, textures, and scents of food in different stages of preparation never becomes skilled . . . . Continue Reading »
Grant poses some challenging questions for those who argue that technology is neutral in the sense that it does not impose on us how it should be used. He points to the automobile: Weren’t we free to use it in any old way, or refuse? Grant finds that kind of naivete delusional, and . . . . Continue Reading »
George Grant argued that “Modern technology is not simply an extension of human making through the power of a perfected science, but a new account of what it is to know and to make in which both activities are changed by their co-penetration. We hide the difficulty of thinking that novelty, . . . . Continue Reading »
John describes the Father as the “I am” but gives that Hebrew name a twist (Revelation 1:3). God is not the timelessly present One, but the one who is now and always, but who also was and who will be. In John’s rendering, “Yahweh” encompasses and identifies Himself . . . . Continue Reading »
In a revealing article tracing the Domitianic date of Revelation back to JB Lightfoot (who, ironically, agreed with the 19th-century consensus that the book was written before 70), Christian Wilson notes that confidence in a date in the 90s increased after the first generation of English . . . . Continue Reading »
Adela Yabro Collins ( Biblical Research , 1981) notes that the identification of Rome as “Babylon” was not the only or the most obvious identification available to John. It appears in Jewish writing in 4 Ezra, the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch, and the fifth book of the Sibylline Oracles. . . . . Continue Reading »
In a 2000 article in CBQ , Francois Bovon applies French literary critical studies of autobiography to the self-presentation of John in Revealtion. He points out that John’s self-identification in Revelation 1:9-10 tells us nothing about John’s distant past, age, education, or future. . . . . Continue Reading »
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