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Writer of Fancy: The Playful Piety of Jane Austen
1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary
The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter
A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons
Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature
Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen
The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism
A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel
From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution
Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy
Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper
A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament
Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature
Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays
Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life
The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church
INTRODUCTION
God is love, John says, and that love is manifested in history through the Father’s love for the Son, a love expressed in the gift of the Spirit. That eternal familial love of Father and Son in the Spirit is the source and model of all human love.
THE TEXT
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. . . .” (Hebrews 12:1-13).
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Monday, November 5, 2007 at 6:13 am
Watch that no root of bitterness grow up, Hebrews 12:15 warns. What’s a root of bitterness? Sounds like someone who’s bitter in the church. But Deuteronomy 29:18 uses a similar phrase to describe those who turn aside from Yahweh to serve other gods. This fits the context of Hebrews very neatly: The root of bitterness in Hebrews is the Christian who intends to turn back from Jesus to Moses. With the coming of the New Covenant, that’s an equivalent of a return to Egypt, a return to slavery.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, August 9, 2007 at 6:55 am
Christian worship is God’s service to us.
Yet, Christian worship is sacrificial, and sacrifice appears to be a human act reaching toward God. That’s certainly how Luther understood the sacrifice of the Mass.
How to resolve?
Teresa Okure, Professor of New Testament and Gender Hermeneutics (!) at the Catholic Institute of West Africa in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, suggests this solution:
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, June 28, 2007 at 6:16 pm
A student points out that Hebrews 1-2:4 contains seven quotations from the Old Testament. Through these seven words, God speaks His Son as the new creation.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Monday, May 7, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Gabriella Gelardini of the University of Basel gave an excellent presentation on the structure of Hebrews, defending this basic chiasm:
A. Elevation and Abasement of the Son, 1:1-2:18 (terminology: son, angels, abase)
B. Faithlessness of fathers and sons, 3:1-6:20
C. New Covenant and the cult, 7:1-10:18
B’. Faith of sons and fathers, 10:19-12:3
A’. Abasement and elevation of sons, 12:4-13:25 (terminology: sons, angels, abase)
Further, she described the following chiastic arrangement of key unique, or nearly unique terms:
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, November 19, 2006 at 10:34 am
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