A review and a comment on Bible Matrix.
First a comment on Facebook from Chris Griffith:
Started reading Mike Bull’s fascinating new book Bible Matrix. Two chapters into it and I’m already realizing this is a groundbreaking book. He’s synthesizing Jordan and Leithart and giving the layperson an access into understanding biblical typology.
My composer friend Walter Robins’ oratorio Breath of God: A Walk Through the Bible will be world premiered by Capitol Opera Harrisburg PA in May 2011 (visit www.capopera.com)
I love Walter’s music because it has an angular beauty, just like the Bible. It constantly hints through its structure that there is more going on than immediately meets the ear.
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I’ll bet this one doesn’t make the headlines like King Julian did. The media pump up anything that might possibly support evolution, regardless of how many in the scientific establishment have great doubts about it. The average secularist might want to stay wrapped in his evolutionist fantasy, but what excuse do evangelical Christians have for their willful delusion? Even less, now that the evolutionists’ false paradigm has again been shown to be a theory that misinterprets the data:
Daniel Harrell tries to marry chalk and cheese by positing that Adam and Eve were real people, just not the first real people. They were the first people with whom God entered into a Covenant relationship.[1] The Rev. Harrell is sitting on the fence, an extremely pointy fence.
For many Christians, the biblical characters Adam and Eve can present a significant challenge to accepting evolutionary theory—that is, when they are cast as historical figures who are also the biological progenitors of the human race. …the Rev. Daniel Harrell discusses how there may be some “middle ground” in the way that Christians understand Adam and Eve. Harrell points out that the historicity of Adam and Eve does not necessarily conflict with science. Rather, the claim that conflicts with science is the idea that Adam and Eve were the first humans, who were the only original biological ancestors of all humans today.
[This post has been refined and included in Sweet Counsel: Essays to Brighten the Eyes.]
Continue reading
When it was pointed out to a Southern Baptist pastor at one of those (now quaint) prophecy conferences they still insist on holding, that there were more than ten European nations in the EEC, he replied that however many there may be now, there will be exactly ten when the Antichrist comes to power.
There is a thread that runs right through the Bible concerning men and beasts. When men fail to be wise, obedient stewards—as Adam did—they image the beast. Instead of shepherding, they tear and devour. God actually allowed Nebuchadnezzar to become like a beast so that He might resurrect him as a godly steward.
When you hear the word “economics,” if you don’t think of “stewardship,” your definition of economics is not the biblical one. The modern definition is much less about wise stewardship than it is about opportunistic tearing and devouring. What can I get away with? Hath God said…?
“So [Abraham] lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground…” Genesis 18:2
“Then Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, the sons of Heth.” Genesis 23:7
I’ve finally gotten around to doing the post that was to follow Stuff Is Good.
In his little torpedo of a book, The Liturgy Trap, James Jordan gives a definition of idolatry that is worth the price of the book. Firstly, it is natural that the de-eschatologised churches, (the ones that think they need no death-and-resurrections) contain icons. A church that has already arrived [1] must be able to present the unseen as already-seen:
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“This book is a gem. Through letters of advice from A.F. Christian, an enthusiastic convert to the cause of the new atheists, Mary Eberstadt deftly exposes the flaws in their views. Using the lingo of pop culture to hilarious effect, she offers a scathing satire of their question-begging arguments and shows with great wit that they are not just wrongheaded but downright laughable. Yet this spirited defense of Christian faith is also a poignant commentary on what it means to be human.”
– Fr. Peter Ryan, SJ, Professor of Moral Theology, Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary
Bojidar Marinov writes:
The personality cult, the One Great Leader Who Leads the Masses has never been a Conservative value. It certainly has never been a Christian value. The very idea of Conservatism—and especially the American type Christian Conservatism—has always been suspicious toward a system where one person focuses the hopes and the expectations of the movement and leads them according to his will or goals. Christianity has always been firm that there is only one legitimate Leader—Jesus Christ—and He leads through His Holy Spirit. All human leaders are by default imperfect, fallible, and all of them need to be under close scrutiny and healthy criticism by the very people they lead into battle.
Bible Matrix blog
