The Psalmist complains that the “arrogant” lie about him (Psalm 119:69), and these same arrogant have “fat” hearts (v. 70).Fat is normally a positive description in the Bible. Fat is a sign of prosperity; you want your land to be fat and your hills to drip with fatness. I . . . . Continue Reading »
Patricia Ryberg, Assistant Professor of Biology at Park University has been studying tree fossils buried under a mile of ice in the Antarctic. She discovered that “the pattern of growth in the Antarctic tree samples showed habits typically associated with evergreen trees. However, the . . . . Continue Reading »
Morales (The Tabernacle Pre-Figured) argues that the trajectory of the creation account in Genesis 1 has not been fully appreciated because the import of the opening verses have not been fully appreciated:“that emphasis is stark enough to serve as the foil for the six days of creation (vv . . . . Continue Reading »
Water ordeals are a common mythical and ritual theme in the Ancient Near east. Hostile waters threaten the life of someone who is trying to cross, and the fact that the person survives the ordeal is a judgment in his favor, a declaration of innocence.Morales (The Tabernacle Pre-Figured, 30) quotes . . . . Continue Reading »
L. Michael Morales’ The Tabernacle Pre-Figured examines a cluster of related themes in the narrative texts of Genesis. The rites of Torah follow the cosmic pattern established in creation, in which one moves through the waters of death to the cosmic mountain in order to offer worship to . . . . Continue Reading »
Morales’s The Tabernacle Pre-Figured is an insightful study of the “cosmic mountain ideology” in the Bible, which Morales understands in terms of a progress through the dangerous waters of chaos to the mountain of the Lord’s house for the purpose of worship. At . . . . Continue Reading »
Protestants have often been charged with promoting an individualist reading of Scripture, what with our confession of sola scriptura. That charge, I submit, arises from a misunderstanding of what the Bible is.In Psalm 119:24, the Psalmist declares his delight in the “testimonies” of . . . . Continue Reading »
Greeks have a reputation for Apollonian rationality and calm, but that’s at best only part of the story. In the NYTBR, Caroline Alexander describes the Dionysian underside of classical Greece:“On Mount Lykaion (‘wolf mountain” in Arcadia, annual traditions honoring Zeus . . . . Continue Reading »
Richard Beck responds to my review of his Slavery of Death at the Trinity House . . . . Continue Reading »
Mark W. Elliott’s Engaging Leviticus is a compendium of historical commentary on the book of Leviticus. Organized chapter-by-chapter, Elliott draws together patristic, medieval, and modern commentators, mostly Christian but including some Jewish commentators along the way.That . . . . Continue Reading »
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