A growing number of theologians argue that Hell should be understood as a place of cleansing rather than as a place of damnation or annihilation. They insist that God's judgement and wrath are the mechanisms of universal reconciliation—the instruments of God's love. This view should be rejected for a few primary reasons. Purification or Destruction? … Continue reading A (Brief) Case Against Purgatorial Universalism
Very truly, I tell you, whoever receives one whom I send receives me; and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. (John 13:20) Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. // Whoever listens to you listens to Me; whoever rejects you rejects Me; and whoever rejects Me rejects … Continue reading Jesus’ solidarity with his disciples in the parable of the Sheep and the Goats
Until rather recently, the Gospel of John has been systematically excluded as a source for the historical Jesus. It has been popularly considered a "concocted Gospel." Accordingly, scholarship tends to understand John as a derivative spiritualization of Synoptic material. As such, the Fourth Gospel contains no viable independent memory of the historical Jesus. This critical … Continue reading John and the Historical Temple-Disturbance
The Gospel in our contemporary context is most often associated with Jesus' death for sins: the sinless savior sacrificed himself to rescue us from death, hell, and/or God's wrath. His deed of obedience is effective for all people for all time. Such an understanding of the Gospel sometimes stands in tension with how the Bible … Continue reading Revelation 14 and the good news about Jesus
When Christians speak of their favorite psalms, Psalm 2 is not often mentioned. If we were to pose the question to Luke or the author of the Apocalypse, however, they would likely have identified this particular psalm as one of the most important if not the most important. Their quotations from and their allusions to … Continue reading Acts of the Apostles: Telling the story of the second psalm
Jesus' interaction with the Syrophoenician/Canaanite woman in Mark 7/Matthew 15 leaves many uneasy, both because Jesus initially refuses to help, and because he speaks of non-Jews as dogs. This behavior seems uncharacteristic of Jesus, who has himself already healed multiple gentiles without question in the Markan and Matthean narratives. Others have suggested that Jesus' behavior … Continue reading Children first, then the dogs: the literary origins of Mark’s Syrophoenician woman
A paper I wrote examined the dispute between Jesus and Jerusalem Jews recorded in John 8. I began with a well-trodden observation: in John 8:42-58 the typical Johannine misunderstanding motif is afoot. That is, the Jews do not understand what Jesus is saying. Their questions and accusations disclose that Jesus and his opponents are operating … Continue reading Magic and Misunderstanding in John 8
I observed in the last post some similarities between Matthew's nameless female Canaanite mendicant and the Canaanite prostitute Rahab. I want to try to draw that connection a little tighter here and show that these women play a similar role in their respective narratives. They are not simply righteous gentile women, they are unlikely harbingers … Continue reading Canaanite women and the New Conquest
The Exodus is more than the founding myth of the Hebrew people; it is a literary stream that runs from the beginning of the scriptures to the end. It is recalled all throughout the Biblical narrative: at creation, at Israel's return from exile, at the death of the Messiah, and at John's judgement of the … Continue reading “Come out of her, my people!”: Rahab and the Exodus from Rome
We previously discussed the concept of brotherhood in earliest Christianity (1 2 3). We saw that conversion involved a transfer of one's fundamental identity. Individuals who were compelled by the message about Israel's God and His Son effectively betrayed their families, their peoples, and their gods and in the process gained a new family, a … Continue reading Brothers and Neighbors in Early Christianity part 4
Scribes of the Kingdom 