Abel is righteous, but ends up dead at the hand of his brother. Jacob is perfect, and survives, in spite of Esau’s attempts to kill him. That progression foretells the progression of Israel’s exiles. In Egypt, they are “Abel,” exalted at first but eventually enslaved and . . . . Continue Reading »
Theodore Lewis assesses Tryggve Mettinger’s comparative study of Israel’s aniconic tradition in a 1998 issue of JAOS . Lewis’s enumerated conclusions are (the next few paragraph are directly quoted): 1. Aniconic traditions (i.e., Mettinger’s “de facto . . . . Continue Reading »
A 1984 article by Baruch Levine and Jean-Michel de Tarragon in the JAOS examines a Ugaritic liturgy that commemorates the accession of Ammurapi and includes honors to his dead father Niqmaddu. The liturgy begins with a summons to the Patrons of Ugarit, including the “Rephaim of the . . . . Continue Reading »
Nearly every student of Israel and the ANE emphasizes the uniqueness of Israel’s aniconic worship. Explaining the significance of it is much more difficult. As Ronald Hendel summarizes ( CBQ 1988), scholars have offered several rationales for the exclusion of images from Israel’s . . . . Continue Reading »
American culture seems to be most interested in who God isn’t. Many hold that claims made about God put him in a box and because we really can’t know anything about him (so they say) we should avoid claiming any knowledge of or about him. Of course, that argument works for less than 10 . . . . Continue Reading »
Rings resemble crowns - both circlets made of precious metals and adorned with jewels. And they play a similar role in the Bible. Crowns glorify the one crowned and distinguish him from among his brothers. Crowns are glory and honor of the person. Rings glorify fingers, and fingers are . . . . Continue Reading »
Webster ends his interesting Barthian discussion of the canon by noting that Christians should be grateful for the genealogies of modern thought that “trace the history, observe the corruptions of producers and their products, and so cast the mighty from their thrones.” But in the . . . . Continue Reading »
Those interested in Biblical Theology and related subjects will find a wealth of thoughtful and thought-provoking material here: http://beginningwithmoses.org/ . . . . Continue Reading »
Timothy Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City and author of The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, has written a paper for BioLogos called, “Creation, Evolution, and Christian People.” Pastor Keller estimates that “what current science tells . . . . Continue Reading »
Based on the quotations below, Augustine would say creationists and ID proponents are “reckless and incompetent expounders of Scripture” because they turn the Bible into primitive science.From Peter Enns, Senior Fellow in Biblical Studies at the BioLogos Foundation:You cannot expect the . . . . Continue Reading »
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