Tertullian the Feminist

And do you not know that you are (each) an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age: the guilt of necessity must live too. You are the devil's gateway; you are the unsealer of that (forbidden) tree: you are the first deserted of the divine law: you are she who persuaded him who the devil was not valiant enough to attack. You destroyed so easily God's image, man. On account of your desert--that is, death--even the Son of God had to die.

From Tertullian "On the Apparel of Women" in Kling, The Bible in History (New York: Oxford, 2004), 276-277

Is America Israel or Egypt?

Well, it depends. I suppose understanding the origins on this nation in biblical terms was a temptation too strong to resist. When you consider 1) the alien nature of the land for European settlers and 2) the deeply religious worldview of those settlers, it is not surprising in the slightest that they would interpret their settlement in a new and alien continent in religious terms. It would be more surprising if they didn't understand their discovery and settlement of this new world in religious terms. Consider the nature of the land.  This was an altogether new land--full of resources and danger--that seemed to miraculously appear on their map at just the right time for their "salvation." Then consider the first European settlers. These settlers worshipped a God of Providence who was in control of every part of life and society. And they had fled religious tryanny in England in search of a more authentic experience of religion. It would have been more surprising if they did not make sense of their experience using biblical imagery and language. This is what Bible people have always done.

The story that they gravitated toward more than any other was the story of the Exodus of God's people from Egypt. They interpreted the story typologically - the story of the Exodus provided a pattern that was being repeated among God's people in their own generation. Of course, now England was Egypt and the New World was Canaan.

Consider the following quotes from David Kling...

John Winthrop, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, announced to his fellow voyagers on the deck of the flagship Arabella in 1630, "The Lord will surely break out in wrath against us...and make us know the price of the breach of such a covenant." He closed his sermon by quoting Moses: if we follow the Lord and keep his commandments, we will be blessed; if our hearts turn away in disobedience, we will surely perish (Deut. 30:15-17).

In their poem, "On the Rising Glory of America" (1771), Philip Freneau and Hugh Henry Brackenridge...described America as the site where "another Canaan shall excel the old."

When war broke out between England and the colonies, Nicholas Street uplifted the parallels between the biblical exodus and America's condition in his sermon "The American States Acting over the Part of the Children of Israel in the Wilderness and Thereby Impeding Their Entrance into Canaan's Rest" (1777). He identified the wilderness as a condition in which the British (Egyptians) and the British tyrant (Pharaoh) were "endeavoring to oppress, enslave and destroy these American States."

Benjamin Franklin suggested the scene of Moses with his upraised staff parting the Red Sea while Pharaoh and his army drowned as the collapsed wall of water engulfed them. The motto: "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God." Thomas Jefferson proposed the less violent episode of the Israelites being providentially guided out of Egypt by a cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. In the end, the eagle--the classical sign of ancient republics--was chosen for the seal, though it alluded as well to the biblical eagle of Exodus 19:4, where God informs Moses, "I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself."

In "The United States Elevated to Glory and Honor" (1783), Yale's president Ezra Stiles hailed the new nation as God's American Israel" and exuded with optimism over the "future prosperity and splendour of the United States."

In his "Conquest of Canaan" (1785), Timothy Dwight, Stiles' successor at Yale, envisioned American "by heaven design'd, The last retreat for poor, oppress'd mankind."

The Reverend Samuel Langdon, in "The Republic of the Israelites an Example to the American States" (1788), expressed the widely accepted view that George Washington was America's Moses.

In his Thanksgiving Day sermon, "Traits of Resemblance in the People of the United States of America to Ancient Israel" (1799), the Reverend Abiel Abbot observed, "It has been often remarked that the people of the United States come nearer to a parallel with Ancient Israel, than any other nation upon the globe."

The story of this country does not just include white European settlers, however. It also includes the experience of African slaves. Kling points out "As blacks knew only too well, there was a tragic irony to Americans' claim to be the new Israel--the reality of an enslaved old Israel in their midst. America had become a New Canaan for whites, but at what cost to blacks?" As these slaves learned about the God of their masters and came eventually to even worship that same God, it became clear to many that the story of the Exodus was really their own story. In an incredibly bold and subversive move, slaves began singing spiritual songs about crossin' over into Canaan land. They would sing lyrics like...

Gwine to write Massa Jesus,To send some Valiant soldier, To turn back Pharoah's army, Hallelu!

America, at least the Southern states, was their Egypt. And they were eagerly awaiting liberation (There is a little debate about exactly what kind of liberation black slaves were groaning for - physical/spiritual/both?) from their white Pharoahs. Thus began a long tradition in the African American community that continues today of reappropriating the story of the Exodus as a story of suffering, heartbreak, and eventually liberation for the black community.

David W. Kling, The Bible in History: How the Texts Have Shaped the Times (New York: Oxford, 2004), 206-207.

Ordain a Lady

Not entirely sure what to make of this video...Wonder what Steven Anderson would say.

 

 

Foundational Texts

What verses/passages shape your theology? What verses/passages shape your life? What verses/passages give interpretive shape to other verses/passages in scripture? I think that you can learn a lot about the shape of a person's theology by identifying those foundational texts. We can learn a lot about our own theology by identifying our foundational texts.

As an exercise, I've listed 13 passages below. They are all critically important passages in their own way. Rank these texts 1 to 13 in terms of their importance in giving shape to your overall theology and discipleship. What does your ranking reveal about the shaping principles of your theology?

______Matthew 28:18-20 – “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

______Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

______1 John 4:8 – God is love.

______James 1:27 – Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

______Acts 2:38-39 – Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

______Revelation 4:8 – “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”

______Matthew 5:3-10 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

______Galatians 2:20 – I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

______Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

______1 Peter 2:9-10 – But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

______Matthew 22:37-39 – Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

______John 1:14 – The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

______Luke 24:5-6 – “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!

Numerology in John's Gospel

The prologue [of John] consists of 496 syllables, appropriately since 496 is both a triangular number (It is a triangle of 31, i.e., the sum of all integers from 1 to 31.) and a perfect number (I.e., it is equal to the sum of its divisors. 496 is third in the series of perfect numbers, following 6 and 28.) and is also the numerical value of the Greek word monogenes (meaning "only son" and used in 1:14, 18). Odd though these considerations may seem to us, people in the New Testament period were fascinated by certain special sorts of numbers, including triangular and perfect numbers, and were used to the idea that words had numerical values, which were easily calculated because all the letters of the Greek alphabet were also used as numerals. But the importance of the number 496 for our immediate purpose is that it links the Prologue and the Epilogue together. For, while the Prologue has 496 syllables, the Epilogue (a considerably longer passage) has 496 words. That the correspondence should be between the number of syllables in the Prologue and the number of words in the Epilogue is quite appropriate, because the Prologue is a poetic composition, in which one might expect the number of syllables to be important, whereas the Epilogue is a narrative. Further evidence of numerical composition can be found int he fact that the two stages of the conclusion to the Gospel (20:30-31 and 21:24-25), framing the epilogue, each consists of 43 words. This provides an initial indication that they should be read together and in parallel.

Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006), 364-365.

McKnight on Parables

Parables are more than cute, homespun illustrations. Jesus' parables are revelatory kingdom dreams. They summon us into the world where God's kingdom takes root and grows and spreads. They summon us to a better world, to the kingdom of God, and they summon us to a kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. The parables of Jesus, in fact, are revolutionary scripts that enter into our heart of hearts, rattle us anew, and call us to complete surrender. One can say this yet another way: The parables of Jesus are opportunities for God's grace to enter into our lives to transform us.

This parabolic dream kingdom begins, Jesus says, with the imagination. First you listen to his stories and enter into them imaginatively, the way you enter into your favorite novel's characters. Then, because you've entered Jesus' kingdom plot, you've discerned kingdom life in a deeper manner. Then you give your One.Life to the Kingdom.Life.

The parables of Jesus are his sleight-of-hand trick. You begin thinking about very ordinary things, like fields and farmers and workers and women baking and men picking wheat and wounded people, and suddenly you find yourself transported into a brand new world and a brand new way of thinking. This vision of Jesus will take a conversion of our imagination; or, better yet, the parables convert our imaginations from self-centeredness to love.

A Christian, then, is one who follows Jesus, devotes his or her One.Life to the kingdom vision, and uses her or his imagination to see what God can do in this world. This imagination is nothing other than kingdom imagination shaped by Jesus' parables.

Scot McKnight, One.Life: Jesus Calls We Follow (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 44.

My Personal Top Ten

Each one of us has some sort of canon within a canon. Whether it is intentional or accidental, we all have those chapters that stick out with prominence from the rest of scripture. Verses, chapters, or sometimes entire books that hold a special level of importance for us. These are the passages that we often will commit to memory. These are the passages that seem to show up more than their fair share in our preaching, teaching, or counseling. Even those of us who are convinced that 2 Timothy 3:16 applies to all of scripture from Genesis through Revelation have this canon within a canon. It doesn't mean that they are more inspired than the rest of scripture, but they may in fact be more important.

Sometimes this can be a very bad thing. A canon within a canon can lead us into practices like prooftexting (ripping a scripture out of its context in order to support our dogma) or it can keep us from seeing the many perspectives on a particular issue offered in scripture as a whole. (I'm thinking specifically of the various passages that offer different perspectives on the role of women just as an example.) Having a canon within a canon may cause us to miss other issues altogether.

But this doesn't have to be a bad thing. The Bible is an awfully long, complex, and dense book. It seems necessary that there will be certain passages that will rise in importance because of their explanatory power - their ability to help us make sense of the larger whole. The rest of scripture hangs on these passages like a coat hangs on a hanger. Even the first Christians had a sort of canon within a canon. There were certain passages (like various Psalms like 110) that they came back to over and over again when trying to explain what had happened with Jesus.
With that in mind I've decided to identify what I believe are the ten most important chapters in the entire Bible. The following are not necessarily in any particular order other than their canonical order.

1. Genesis 3 - I include this chapter just because there is no message of scripture without the story of brokenness and rebellion of Genesis 3. Genesis 1 and 2 are obviously important, but Genesis 3 sets us up for the overarching narrative of scripture where God sets about fixing what went wrong in the Garden. Without a doubt the most important verse in this chapter is 15 which provides the first messianic promise.
2. Genesis 12 - I had a professor once who liked to say that this was the most important chapter of the Bible. I'm not sure I'd go that far, but it definitely deserves to go in the top ten since the calling of Abram and Sarai changes the entire shape of the rest of the OT. The OT from this point forward becomes the local story of the nation of Israel which would eventually give way to the story of the Messiah.
3. Psalm 23 - I included this psalm because of how much it has shaped our understanding of God. Through history even pagans have recognized this psalm when they hear it. There is something about this psalm that resonates for all people no matter how far or close they may be to God.
4. Matthew 5-7 - Kind of cheating here but you can't separate these three chapters. The Sermon on the Mount has to be included in this list. It is the most important summary of the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament.
5. Luke 15 - The lost chapter - lost sheet, lost coin, lost son. Like Psalm 23 and Matthew 5-7, even pagans are familiar with message of this text. If Matthew 5-7 provides a summary of the teachings of Jesus, Luke 15 provides a summary of his mission.
6. John 1 - The high christology of John 1 is why I included it in the list. You get similar ideas expressed in Colossians 1 and Hebrews 1. This text is essential for knowing about the nature of Christ.
7. Acts 2 - A case could be made for Acts 10 as well. I included Acts 2 however because it tells the story of the birth of the Church. The story of scripture is incomplete without this birth narrative.
8. Romans 8 - This chapter has it all: pneumatology, christology, soteriology, eschatology, etc. etc. There is no more important chapter in Romans and perhaps in all Pauline literature - other than perhaps the next chapter.
9. 1 Corinthians 15 - Without the resurrection our faith is futile. If the resurrection didn't happen nothing else matters. This chapter has additional apologetic benefit since the creed at the beginning of the chapter is likely one of the very first creedal statements concerning the resurrection of Jesus.
10. Revelation 21-22 - New heaven and new earth. The great reversal. No story is complete without its conclusion. Revelation 21-22 provides that beautiful picture of the final restoration of all things. Even popular culture has picked up on the images of heaven in Revelation 21-22 even if they are wrongly understood.

That's my list. What would be on your list? Anything that I left out that you would add?