Slavery: the need for a redemptive-movement hermeneutic

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What are we to make of the Old Testament texts that speak of slavery?  They do not offer any outright condemnation of it.  So, are we to reject those texts out of hand?

One answer, favoured by many who wish to uphold the authority of Scripture, is to regard these texts as less-than-ultimate in themselves, and pointing towards (without themselves arriving at) the ultimate.

These texts, in other words, are on a trajectory, the end point of which is reached in ‘the law of Christ’, which is the ‘law of love’, and, eventually, to the abolition of slavery.…

Can we say, ‘Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away’?

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Job 1:21 – “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

Not everyone thinks this famous confession, uttered by Job after all his sons and daughters had perished, is good theology.

Ben Witherington, whose daughter tragically died in 2012, wrote this:-

‘According to Job 1, it was not God but the Devil who took away Job’s children, health, and wealth. God allowed it to happen, but when Job said these words, as the rest of the story shows, he was not yet enlightened about the true nature of the source of his calamity and God’s actual will for his life.

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Urban myths

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In an article in Evangelical Times entitled ‘Urban Myths (or should we call them lies?)’ Stephen Rees has no trouble in identifying a number of beliefs that are widely assumed to be true, and yet for which there is little or no supporting evidence:

  • ‘Dogs can only see in black and white.’
  • ‘It would be possible to see the Great Wall of China from the moon with the naked eye.’
  • ‘Only two people in the world are allowed to know the formula for Coca-Cola.’
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“I’ll Walk Beside You”

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During the night of Saturday, 17th December 2022, my dear wife Sarah became seriously ill with what turned out to be ‘flu, pneumonia, and then general sepsis.  She was taken by ambulance to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, where she was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit.  Gravely ill, she was sedated and put on a ventilator.

A few days later, I began sending out regular updates to her, and our, many friends.

What follows is a lightly edited compilation of these short bulletins. …

Matthew 2:6 “Bethlehem…in no way least”

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Matthew 2:4 After assembling all the chief priests and experts in the law, [Herod] asked them where the Christ was to be born. 2:5 “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they said, “for it is written this way by the prophet:
2:6 And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are in no way least among the rulers of Judah,
for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”

1. Some think that Matthew has deliberately reversed the meaning of the Micah text. …

“The Lost World of Genesis 1”

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Old Testament scholar John Walton has written extensively on the early chapters of Genesis.  These writings include a long article on ‘Creation’ in the IVP Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch, a commentary on Genesis in the NIVAC series, a scholarly book entitled Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology, and a more popular-level book carrying the title of this post.

In the last-mentioned work, Walton proposes a reading of Genesis 1 that takes account not only of the language it was written in, but also the culture. …

“The Genesis Flood”

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Pretty early on in my Christian life, I acquired two books about the relationship between science and the Bible.  One was Bernard Ramm’s A Christian View of Science and Scripture (1954) and the second was The Genesis Flood, by  John Whitcomb and Henry Morris (1961).  The latter was intended, in part at least, to be a response to the first.  Ramm had argued for an old earth creation and localised flood, whereas Whitcomb and Morris attempted to make a case for a young earth creation and a worldwide flood.…

Genesis 1 & 2 – Two creation accounts

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Why do the first two chapters of Genesis give two very different accounts of creation?

A sceptical approach is to say that they are contradictory, and therefore neither can be relied on as divinely inspired.

Among believers, an attempt is quite often made to fit the two together by making the account in chapter 2 part of the events of Day 6 as recorded in chapter 1.

Another approach is to regard the narrative in chapter 2 as introductory to the longer narrative about the Fall:

‘Many writers have sought to find a second creation story in Gn.

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Genesis 1 – The six days of creation

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As summarised here, Genesis 1 describes seven days of creation:

  • in the beginning – God started creation
  • the first day – light was created
  • the second day – the sky was created
  • the third day – dry land, seas, plants and trees were created
  • the fourth day – the Sun, Moon and stars were created
  • the fifth day – creatures that live in the sea and creatures that fly were created
  • the sixth day – animals that live on the land and finally humans, made in the image of God were created
  • by day seven – God finished his work of creation and rested, making the seventh day a special holy day.
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If Genesis doesn’t teach science, what does it teach?

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Andy Karplus

In a panel discussion on the origins of life  Dr Andy Karplus (Professor of Biochemistry, Oregon State University) advocated a ‘theistic evolution’ position.

Such a position raises the question, ‘If you do not think that the first two chapters of Genesis teach science, what do they teach?’  Dr Karplus gave a helpful summary of the main doctrines taught in these chapters:-

  1. There is one all-powerful God, who is distinct from creation and created all things.
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