Sermon in a Tavern

In her contribution to Dostoevsky and the Christian Tradition, Diane Thompson offers a brilliant analysis of Marmeladov’s speech to Raskolnikov at the beginning of Crime and Punishment.Everything he says is seasoned with grandiloquent references to the gospels, and especially to the . . . . Continue Reading »

Biblical criticism

A sketch of a Jensonian critique of historical criticism of Scripture:The Bible must be understood in its historical context. In practice, this means that the Bible’s historical claims are relativized to the discoveries of ancient historical investigation, archaeology, etc. If the bricks and . . . . Continue Reading »

What Is Biblical Theology?

James Hamilton answers in his terrific What Is Biblical Theology?: A Guide to the Bible’s Story, Symbolism, and Patterns : Biblical theology is “the interpretive perspective of the biblical writers (15). This includes the way later writers interpret and reapply earlier Scriptures, the . . . . Continue Reading »

SuperDupercessionism

Orthodox Christianity is often accused of fomenting antisemitism because of its “supercessionist” conviction that Christianity overcomes and replaces Judaism. Antisemitism is more accurately the product of the abandonment of orthodoxy. In a fine essay on Erich Auerbach , Arthur Krystal . . . . Continue Reading »

Torah’s Limits

At the outset of his Demonstratio Evangelica , Eusebius makes a case for the limitations of the Mosaic system and the universal applicability of the new covenant in Christ. The case has two remarkable features: First, it is an utterly pragmatic case; second, it is a case made from Torah. Pragmatism . . . . Continue Reading »

Inerrancy

Near the beginning of his recent The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss (24-25) , David Bentley Hart has some fun, as he is wont to do, at the expense of fundamentalists who provide “soft and inviting targets” for new atheist attacks. Fundamentaists like “new earth . . . . Continue Reading »

Older brothers

Older brothers get bad press in the Bible. Cain was the first, and the first fratricide. There’s Ishmael and Esau and the older brothers of Joseph. Aaron was older than Moses; he wasn’t a villain, but he did make a calf at Sinai. The prodigal had an older brother too. It’s all . . . . Continue Reading »