Phinehas and Mission

A friend and former student, Pastor C.J. Bowen, writes in response to my recent discussion of Jesus as “new Phinehas.”The remainder of this post is from C.J.Having recently preached through the early chapters of Acts, I was bothered by the interpretation that the early church was . . . . Continue Reading »

Profaning the Name

How can Yahweh’s name be profaned? Can holiness leak out?In a recent Princeton dissertation (This Is the Thing that the Lord Commanded You To Do) Bryan Bibb notes that some qualities depend on the response of a community; they are socially constructed qualities:“personal qualities (like . . . . Continue Reading »

Structure in Leviticus 25-26

As many commentators have pointed out, Leviticus 25-26 form a single literary unit. John Bergsma (The Jubilee from Leviticus to Quram, 82-3) calls attention to the inclusio on “Mount Sinai” (25:1; 26:46), and lists eight literary links between the two chapters, including a common . . . . Continue Reading »

Grace of the Void

The Void is one of the essential dimensions of humanness, argues Esther Lightcap Meek (A Little Manual for Knowing, 35).The Void is the recognition that we might not be, which can arise from curse, betrayal, or from “a brush with death or fear, depression or danger, an uncomfortable situation, . . . . Continue Reading »

Dance of Knowledge

Knowing follows the “dynamic of dance,” writes Esther Lightcap Meek (A Little Manual for Knowing, 79).The knower and the reality to be known are partners, each one off balance at a particular moment but sustaining “an ongoing, overall balance” (80), engaged in a personal . . . . Continue Reading »

Art and the World’s Repair

The essays on art collected in Tikkun Olamoriginated from Gillian Rose’s “broken middle,” writes editor Jason Goroncy. He includes a long quotation from a Rowan Williams essay on Job to explain.Williams writes, “Mere resignation is a betrayal; structuring and explanation . . . . Continue Reading »

New Phinehas

Jesus’ letter to Pergamum mentions Balaam and Balak (Revelation 2:14), and that is a signal that the whole message is running along the lines of Numbers 22-25.The death of the high priest is a sacrificial moment in the life of Israel. According to the rules of the cities of refuge . . . . Continue Reading »

Leviticus as Creation Week

In a highly provocative VT article from 2009, Leigh M. Trevaskis points to the emphasis on Sabbath in Leviticus 23 and 25.All but one festival day is either on a date that is a multiple of seven, or on the day just after. The exception is the day of atonement, which falls on the tenth day of the . . . . Continue Reading »