God-breathed

Craig Allert’s A High View of Scripture? The Authority of the Bible and the Formation of the New Testament Canon (Evangelical Ressourcement: Ancient Sources for the Church’s Future) is mostly about the implications of the history of canon-formation for our understanding of what the . . . . Continue Reading »

Good and Necessary Consequences

As the subtitle suggests, Carlos Bovell’s By Good and Necessary Consequence: A Preliminary Genealogy of Biblicist Foundationalism is a genealogical critique of what he calls biblicist foundationalism, defined as “the decision to restrict confessional theology to the deduction of good . . . . Continue Reading »

Because it’s the Bible

Peter James, et. al., ( Centuries of Darkness: A Challenge to the Chronology of Old World Archaeology ) are no fans of the “devout breed of archaeologist happy to dig with a trowel in one hand and a Bible in the other.” At the same time, they are critical of the knee-jerk skepticism . . . . Continue Reading »

History to Tradition

Forty years ago, Donovan Courville ( Exodus Problem and Its Ramifications (2 Volume Set) ) concisely summarized the slide of biblical scholarship from treating the Bible as history to treating it as a collection of “traditions” with an ever-diminishing historical core. Chronology was a . . . . Continue Reading »

Ad Litteram & “FV”

What is the literal sense? In the current issue of the IJST , R. R. Reno suggests that it involves attending to the text: “We want to bring out minds and hearts into obedience to God’s Word rather than to float in a spiritual world of our imaginings . . . . If we are to believe what the . . . . Continue Reading »

Glory of Kings

For those of you who have not purchased or at least ordered your copy of The Glory of Kings: A Festschrift for James B. Jordan (and shame, shame if you haven’t), the folks at First Things have put up a teaser, R. R. Reno’s wonderful Foreword to the book. It’s available here: . . . . Continue Reading »

What Biblical Womanhood Is Not

Most days I just don’t want to go there. While I disagree with my friends on the egalitarian side of the gender role debate, I think they know I respect them and their studious work on the subject. But I believe we have reached a point in the debate, at least at a popular level, where we find . . . . Continue Reading »

Oil-based faith

Oil is an extremely important part of the biblical world in a number of ways. Oil is a food. Oil is used for cooking. Oil is placed on grain offerings that are baked or fried before being offered to Yahweh (Leviticus 2), and the bread on the table of showbread is baked with oil (Exodus 29:2). . . . . Continue Reading »

Transference

Bonaventure said that we must transfer “to the divine that which pertains to the creature.” This is no unfortunate necessity. Rather, “God’s glory requires this transference. For, since God is greatly to be praised, lest he should ever lack praise because of the scarcity of . . . . Continue Reading »

Doves and Eagles

The Spirit is a dove. So is the Bride in the Song, since she is her Lover’s inspiration and since she is formed by the Dove into the image of the Dove, so that the Bride and the Dove can moan with one voice of longing for the Lover’s return. Jonah’s name means “dove,” . . . . Continue Reading »