Theology Central
Theology Central exists as a place of conversation and information for faculty and friends of Central Baptist Theological Seminary. Posts include seminary news, information, and opinion pieces about ministry, theology, and scholarship.Second Temple Purity Practices and Jewish Baths
From the American Schools of Oriental Research comes a new presentation on the mikva’ot, used by Second Temple Jews for ritual bathing.
Most ritual baths were located in residential contexts, in the basement or ground floor of houses as well as in shared domestic courtyards. The phenomenon of ritual baths installed in private homes was prevalent across the entire socioeconomic gamut, from simple dwellings in rural villages to lavish mansions such as those found in the Upper City of Jerusalem and the royal palaces of the Hasmoneans and of Herod the Great. Numerous ritual baths have been found near entrances to the Temple Mount, in close proximity to the Huldah Gates in the southern wall and Robinson’s Arch and Wilson’s Arch in the western wall. These were apparently public ritual baths, intended for the use of the multitude of pilgrims who visited the Temple on the festivals and throughout the year and required purificatory immersion prior to entering the sacred realms of the Temple.
Alexander’s Counsel on the Lord’s Day
As, undoubtedly, the celebration of public worship and gaining divine instruction from the divine oracles, is the main object of the institution of the Christian sabbath, let all be careful to attend on the services of the sanctuary on this day. And let the heart be prepared by previous prayer and meditation for a participation in public worship, and while in the more immediate presence of the Divine Majesty, let all the people fear before him, and with reverence adore and praise his holy name. Let all vanity, and curious gazing, and slothfulness, be banished from the house of God. Let every heart be lifted up on entering the sanctuary, and let the thoughts be carefully restrained from wandering on foolish or worldly objects, and resolutely recalled when they have begun to go astray. Let brotherly love be cherished, when joining with others in the worship of God. The hearts of all the church should be united in worship, as the heart of one man. Thus, will the worship of the sanctuary below, be a preparation for the purer, sublimer worship in the temple above.
Archibald Alexander, A Brief Compend of Bible Truth, 193-194.
A Ban on Muslims or a Political Ideology
One of my greatest objections to candidate Trump was his threat to ban Muslim immigration. As a Baptist, I believe firmly that religion should never be made a test of legal standing. With President Trump’s immigration ban going into effect, it’s time to revisit this issue–and Andrew C. McCarthy is doing just that at National Review. He argues that President Trump is not banning Muslims, but adherents to a particular political ideology. And there is a difference.
Page and Screen
Should the novel be redefined to include serial cable television? Erik P. Hoel addresses the problem of fiction in an age of screens. His essay interacts with the work of several media critics, including David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. This is an important discussion for pastors who hope to understand what is happening within their congregations.
At a recent scientific conference, I got the chance to wear a virtual-reality headset for the first time. As Wallace could discern so clearly, the seductively soft hand of entertainment has our civilization by the throat, and when I put those goggles on and marveled at what I saw, I felt a tightening. The solution offered by Infinite Jest to entertainment addiction is hard work and monastic concentration on some abstract entity — what Wallace referred to as “worship.” (Worship being exactly what a book as dense as Infinite Jest requires to read; the book itself tries to be a cure for what it diagnoses.)
In the Nick of Time
Jeff Straub introduces Emmanuel Malone, who will deliver Central Seminary’s Charles MacDonald Lectures. His topic is “Race and the Church.”
The Lord’s Table As Sacrifice?
Peter Leithart, a key advocate of the Federal Vision, looks at the joint Lutheran-Catholic statement on the Eucharist. In keeping with his recent direction, he finds hope for increasing rapprochement between Catholics and Protestants.
It often thought that in Catholic-Protestant debates, one side must win and the other side lose; or, that the current lines of division are permanent and quasi-eternal. The discussion of Eucharistic sacrifice shows that this is not the case. On this issue, both sides had to modify their positions; fresh reflection and study opened up new possibilities for common confession of the faith.
Are Conservatives the New Avant-Garde?
Writing for the Imaginative Conservative, Dwight Longenecker suggests that in a world turned upside down, conservatives are now the subversives.
It used to be that to act against these conservative values was to paint oneself as a subversive. The beatnik, the hippie, the flower-power revolutionary all sang their protest songs, smoked their pot, slept with whomever they wished, and brought about a revolution. But when revolutionaries win they eventually become the new establishment. Now they are the ones who are greying and grumbling and balding and boring. Now their society is ripe for revolution, and it would seem that it is the conservative who is the new subversive.
Suppose Torture “Works . . .”
John Schwenkler argues that torture is anti-Christian whether it works or not. Read the essay at First Things.
It is a central principle of the Christian ethic that one must not do evil that good may come. That ethic does not require us to ignore the consequences of our actions, since it allows that some generally bad things—such as root canals—may in some cases be made good by their consequences. Yet it does require us to accept that there are some ways of acting that we can identify as evil no matter their consequences, and must bravely eschew even when bad consequences threaten. Torture is one of these. Calling it by its name should be a first step toward demanding that it not be done.
Civilization Gained and Lost
Bruce Frohnen suggests that it took Christianity to civilize humanity. What follows is that the loss of Christianity will result in the loss of civilization.
The Culture of Death has been with us for quite some time. It has been fostered by the belief that a “procedure” to end life so that others may avoid pain and trouble is not cruel. Indeed, it rests in large part on that Will to Ignorance that sets aside uncomfortable truths and holds that violence done in a sterile, professional atmosphere is neither cruel nor violent. A spanking is by nature evil, we are told, but even the sale of body parts may be accepted, provided we redefine the person as merely a “clump of cells” or at least “beyond pain.”
Bibliography of the Trinitarian Debate
Books at a Glance keeps a running bibliography of the debate about the Trinity. It’s in its 25th update.
Should the IRS Redefine “Church?”
Lidiya Mishchenko argues for the affirmative in the George Washington Law Review.
Fascinating Analysis of Trump Controversy
Whether you favor President Trump or not, whether you favor his immigration proposals or not, you’ll find Scott Adams’s discussion interesting.
So Trump has created a situation – or will soon – in which the peaceful Muslims will either have to do a lot more to help law enforcement find the terrorists in their midst or else live with an increasingly tainted brand. Trump is issuing no free passes for minding your own business. His model makes you part of the solution or part of the problem. No one gets to sit this one out.
Manliness and Alpha Wolves
Brett McKay talks about what alpha wolves are really like, and why men ought to be like them. This is not a Christian essay, but McKay’s perspective is one that Christian men (especially young men) ought to weigh.
So if you want to truly become alpha like a wolf, you’ll need to do more than become a beast in the gym, and strive to overcome your competitors. You’ll also need to become a committed and dedicated family man — a loving and protective father.
Athanasius the Platonist?
That seems to be what Joel Zartman is driving at.
My point is not that Athanasius was not a Christian. My point is that committed and robust 4th century Christianity found the categories of Platonism extremely congenial, greatly so. It was how they made sense of things. I don’t think we can understand these Christians without appreciating Platonism better than (in my opinion) many do (e.g. Thomas Weinandy). I certainly think the only crowd that stands to gain [from] the outdated notion that Greek philosophy corrupted Christian simplicity is that served by a more ambiguous and doctrinally impoverished religion.
AAR on Immigration Ban
The board of the American Academy of Religion released the following statement on Monday. The statement does not reflect the views of the membership.
Statement Issued by the Board of the American Academy of Religion on U.S. Executive Order “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States”
President Trump’s recent executive order limiting and banning Muslim immigration to the United States from seven countries strikes at the heart of the mission and values of the American Academy of Religion, a learned society of some 8,500 members.
Our organization is committed to excellence in the academic study of religion and to making our scholarship freely available in order to foster the larger public understanding of religion.
The ban impedes that mission. Faculty members, students, and independent scholars who study religion depend on the freedom of travel to pursue their work. Already we have received reports of scholars who have been prevented from returning home to the United States from research trips abroad. The ban will also impede international students who hope to study in the United States and to American students who plan to study abroad.
At a more fundamental level, the ban conflicts with our values. We hold dear diversity, mutual respect, inclusion, and free inquiry, all of which the immigration ban jeopardizes. The ban erodes our hope that these values will serve as the foundation for all governmental decisions regarding our members as well as our colleagues around the globe.
Finally, the ban poisons the public’s understanding of Islam in particular and religion in general. It blatantly and explicitly discriminates against Islam and Muslims, and appears to provide special treatment of Christianity. It violates our national commitment to welcome persons of all religions.
With learned societies, colleges and universities, and educational leaders across the nation, we call on the President and Congress to retract the Muslim immigration ban and to denounce religious intolerance in all its forms.
Issued by the Board of Directors in accordance with the AAR’s policy on making public statements.
Left Before Life?
Teresa Oelke at National Review explains how “Progressive Christians” are willing to sacrifice the lives of the unborn to secure their Leftist agenda.
But as the women’s march has come to a close and Friday’s March for Life approaches, recent Sojourners stories praise the former and say nothing about the latter. Sojourners has an entire series, “Why I Am Marching,” that showcases readers’ essays about attending the march to stand up for women’s rights. It has not published any essays critiquing the ethics of the march, and barely mentioned the hostility and exclusion faced by pro-life feminists who attended, some of whom were spat on.
Scott Aniol on Psalm 137
Scott Aniol of Southwestern Baptist Seminary has begun an exposition of Psalm 137. His second installment is on the historical background to the psalm.
Two of the most well-known stories from the Old Testament are specifically meant to highlight how difficult it was for the Hebrews to worship God as he had commanded in such a pagan setting. These are among the first stories children learn from the Old Testament—Daniel and the Lion’s Den and the Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace. In both cases, the matter in view is whether or not God’s people in exile will worship him as he commanded or whether they will give into the pressure of their pagan captors and bow to false gods. And in both cases, it is the vast minority that actually follow God’s commands; as far as we know, most of the nation forsake the true worship of God. They forget Jerusalem; they forget the Temple; these are just another way of saying, they forget the true God.
Retirement?
I don’t know who Hugh Whelchel is, but he’s spot on in this essay on Christian retirement. I thank God for “retired” people who continued to do God’s work in the churches I pastored.
Wheaton College and That Hijab
J. Daryl Charles argues that the firing of Larycia Hawkins had nothing to do with her hijab and everything to do with her theology. The essay asks:
Ultimately, do American Christians have the theological and moral backbone to stand firm in the midst of cultural hostility? Alas, most of those criticizing Wheaton College had it wrong. Truth and charity are not opposites. Charity will always seek to honor what is good and true, without compromising and without fear of “offending” others. Just ask the true martyr.
Read it all here.
Rural America and Urban Media
Writing for First Things, K. E. Columbini points out the strong bias against rural life that dominates the media.
Examples of this [rural] purge abound, mostly between 1969 and 1975: Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, Mayberry R.F.D., Lassie, Family Affair, Hogan’s Heroes, and My Three Sons; variety shows like Hee-Haw or those hosted by Red Skelton, Jackie Gleason, Jim Nabors, Andy Williams, and Glen Campbell; and westerns, such as The Big Valley, Virginian, Bonanza, and Gunsmoke. As the voice and character actor Pat Buttram said of 1970, the height of the purge: “It was the year CBS canceled everything with a tree.”
APPLICATION & AID