Cartun has some other interesting links up his sleeve: “‘God ( elohim ) occurs, as was previously pointed out, eighteen times in its various forms. The ‘Nile,’ a god to Egypt, is the only other single word repeated eighteen times total in the plagues narrative. These . . . . Continue Reading »
I’ve been musing all day on the possibility that the somehow symbolize Israel. The Nile turns to blood because Pharaoh has been killing Hebrew babies in the river, and the frogs swarm just like the Hebrews had done (cf. Exodus 1:7). Now I come across a 1991 article from the Union . . . . Continue Reading »
In an essay in Andre Wenin, ed., Studies in the Book of Genesis Literature, Redaction and History (Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium) , Benedicte Lemmelijn argues that the plague narrative is playing off of the creation narrative of Genesis 1-2. Citing Z. Zevit’s work . . . . Continue Reading »
The Passover is, like the Law itself, to be on the hand and the forheads of Israel (Exodus 13:16). It is to be like a phylactery attached to the “frontlet between the eyes.” Eyes are organs of investigation and judgment, and putting the Passover between the eyes means that Israel . . . . Continue Reading »
Frogs come up from the Nile and “cover” the land of Egypt (Exodus 8:6), and later locusts do the same (10:5). Earlier, the same verb ( kasah ) is used to describe the waters “covering” the mountains in the flood (Genesis 7:19-20). The plagues covering Egypt are another . . . . Continue Reading »
Gordon T. Smith’s Transforming Conversion: Rethinking the Language and Contours of Christian Initiation is quite satisfying. He’s got all the right enemies, revivalism in particular, and he wants to sketch out an account of conversion that overcomes all the dualisms that dog the . . . . Continue Reading »
Justification is (among other things) forgiveness of sins. Justification “justifies/frees” us from sin. Are these two equivalent? What would it mean to say that forgiveness is a deliverance? Forgiveness delivers from future punishment. Forgiveness thus frees from . . . . Continue Reading »
Thomas Jay Oord’s Defining Love: A Philosophical, Scientific, and Theological Engagement is bizarre. He draws on physical and social sciences in his effort to define love, has a chapter on love and biology and love and cosmology, talks about kenosis a good deal, and concludes with a . . . . Continue Reading »
In his recent Paul and Scripture: Studying the New Testament Use of the Old Testament , Steven Moyise suggests that Paul’s treatment of Abraham counters the “heroic” tradition concerning Abraham by equating “reckoned righteous” with “justifies the ungodly.” . . . . Continue Reading »
Writing as Paris correspondent for the Northern Star in January 1848, Engels expressed the opinion that “Upon the whole it is, in our opinion, very fortunate that the Arabian chief [Abd-el-Kader] has been taken. The struggle of the Bedouins was a hopeless one, and though the manner . . . . Continue Reading »
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