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 »

Divorce and Cruelty

In his exhaustive study of Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible: The Social and Literary Context , David Instone-Brewer notes that “Cruelty and humiliation were . . . recognized as grounds for divorce and are related to emotional neglect in the Mishnah” (107). Both husbands and wives . . . . Continue Reading »

Passion and createdness

Anatolios ( Retrieving Nicaea: The Development and Meaning of Trinitarian Doctrine ) offers this neat “Well, duh” summary of Nyssa’s reconceptualization of human passions. Hellenic philosophy made passibility both an ontological and a moral category. Passions were . . . . Continue Reading »

Judaism and Globalization

In his American Providence: A Nation with a Mission , Stephen Webb describes Arnold Toynbee as a “prophet” who foretold the rise of religious pluralism that inhabits Religious Studies departments and is the religious drive behind globalization. Toynbee saw that religion was the central . . . . Continue Reading »

Marcion

Back to Witherington, and nearly done. Several of his comments defend against my charge that pacifists tend toward Marcionism. He writes: “it is not Marcionism to recognize that the OT tells the story of covenants that Christians are no longer under, and which the NT says quite clearly . . . . Continue Reading »

Law and Gospel again

In WCF 8.6, we read that the “virtue, efficacy, and benefits” of the work of redemption were “communicated unto the elect” even before the actual accomplishment of redemption in the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus. “From the beginning of the world” . . . . Continue Reading »

Principles of law and gospel

According to some Reformed thinkers today, the law was a republication of the covenant of works, and as such offered the promised inheritance on the “principle” of law. Do this and live; do this and inherit the land. That is the principle of law at work. The WCF 7.5, however, gives a . . . . Continue Reading »

Yes and No on Torrance

Steven Wedgeworth writes: “You might want to be more skeptical of Torrance.  You (and he) are right to sniff a problem, but the genealogy of that problem is a bit more complicated.  Just one example.  You blogged on visible and invisible and said that Torrance claimed later . . . . Continue Reading »