The Holiness of Housebreaking

A few weeks ago, I posted a piece that I submitted to the Babylon Bee, which they never published. It looks as though my second attempt was a failure too, so I thought that I would share it with you all!

Dear the Bee,

I was heartened to read your recently published article criticizing Christians who oppose felony home invasion. It is concerning to see the housebreaking community so cruelly maligned and marginalized in the name of Christianity.

I was, however, surprised that the author of the article in question doesn’t seem to have wrestled with the possibility that Jesus himself was a larcenist. On a number of occasions in the gospels, Jesus compares his coming to that of a thief in the night. Conservative Christians conveniently ignore this.

Indeed, I would suggest that it is high time that we recover the importance of such imagery for the divine, emphasizing its importance over against more exclusionary traditional metaphors. Perhaps then burglars may finally begin to recognize that they too are worth celebrating, as their identity is shared and validated by God in Godself.

I also believe that we need to push towards sacramental blessings for acts of housebreaking. Indeed, in our society, where the church is widely perceived as a house closed to outsiders, can we call ourselves faithful Christians if we are not prepared to express such radical welcome? Are we a place where the Christ who comes in the form of a thief would be affirmed or would he feel judged and ostracized?

Please consider the prayers and alternative liturgies that I have attached as a first step in this crucial direction.

Posted in Just for Fun | 2 Comments

Reading Group for C.S. Lewis’s ‘The Four Loves’

Over the next few months, Mere Fidelity is going to devote a number of episodes to discussion of C.S. Lewis’s classic The Four Loves. We’d love for listeners to join us in this exploration of Lewis’s superb work, so I am giving you all an advance warning, in case you need to buy a copy. It shouldn’t even cost you $5 for a used copy (P&P included) in the US, so it won’t break the bank!

Posted in Public Service Announcement | Leave a comment

Podcast: 1 Kings

 

Mere FidelityIn this week’s episode of Mere Fidelity, Derek, Matt, Andrew, and I have a conversation about the book of 1 Kings, particularly inspired by Peter Leithart’s commentary.

You can also follow the podcast on iTunes, or using this RSS feed. Listen to past episodes on Soundcloud and on this page on my blog.

*If you would like to support the production of the Mere Fidelity podcast, helping us to cover our monthly costs, please visit our Patreon page*

Posted in 1 Kings, 2 Kings, Bible, OT, OT Theology, Podcasts, Theological | Leave a comment

Hero’s Theme

I have just guest posted over on the Theopolis Institute, where I make a case for a figural reading of the story of Rahab.

Rahab represents something even greater in the book of Revelation. In Revelation we see a woman arrayed in scarlet, described as the Mother of Harlots. Once again, the colour of scarlet has various resonances. It represents sin, the spilt blood of the martyred saints, and the harlotries of the city. There are also priestly undertones. This is the priestly city, which is why she is to be burned with fire for her harlotry (Revelation 17:16; 18:8; cf. Leviticus 21:9).

People are called out of the city of the harlot (18:4-5), but these people become the spotless bride. Note that this occurs through garments being ‘washed white’ in the blood of the bridegroom (7:14). Blood is the cleansing agent through which the harlot becomes a spotless virgin. Like Jericho, the great and wicked city of Revelation is defeated by the blowing of seven trumpets (8:1—11:19; cf. Joshua 6:16-21) and is then burned with fire (like the city in Revelation, Jericho also has associations with Babylon, Joshua 7:21).

As in the book of Joshua, where the harlot becomes one of the saints—note that the individual Rahab recapitulates the story of the Passover of the whole nation of Israel—the saints in Revelation are former members of the harlot. Rahab marries the heir of Judah’s line, Salmon; the bride in Revelation marries the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

Read the whole thing here.

Posted in Bible, Controversies, Guest Post, Hermeneutics, Joshua, NT, NT Theology, OT, OT Theology, Revelation, Scripture, The Church, Theological | 4 Comments

The Eternal Subordination of the Son Controversy: 6. The Tension Between Bible and Doctrine

1. The Debate So Far
2. Survey of Some Relevant Material
3. Subordination
4. The Need for Trinitarian Clarity (Part 1)
5. The Need for Trinitarian Clarity (Part 2)

The sixth part in my series of posts on the debate surrounding the eternal subordination of the Son has just been posted. Within this post I start to explore the tension between systematic theology and biblical studies, as it has been expressed within the recent debates.

The neglect of Scripture is common even in the work of the most able dogmaticians. For instance, I recently read Webster’s superb treatment of Trinity and creation, and was struck by how it largely functions in a manner independent of exegesis, or reflection upon the biblical narrative (I would have loved to have seen Webster engage closely with something akin to Francis Watson’s suggested Trinitarian reading of Genesis 1 in Text, Church, and World). ESS is, more than anything else, about the reading of key biblical texts, rather than about the parsing of a theology of God that, no matter how orthodox, increasingly floats free of the text.

When readings of Scripture that have a prima facie plausibility to many readers are met with forceful objections from Trinitarian doctrine, but little by way of careful alternative exegesis, it is unsurprising that tensions will arise between exegetes and dogmaticians. Indeed, there is a danger that dogmatics may come to be regarded chiefly as the creator of obstacles, burdens, and Kafkaesque demands for interpreters of Scripture.

Read the whole thing here.

Posted in 1 Corinthians, Bible, Controversies, Doctrine of God, Guest Post, Hermeneutics, NT, NT Theology, Scripture, The Triune God, Theological | 18 Comments

On My Shelf Interview

Matt Smethurst, the managing editor of the Gospel Coalition, recently had a brief interview with me about my life and books. You can read it here.

Posted in Christian Experience, Guest Post, My Reading, What I'm Reading | Leave a comment

Podcast: On Biblical Exegesis and Systematic Theology

Mere FidelityIn this week’s episode of Mere Fidelity, Derek, Matt, and I discuss the often troubled relationship between biblical exegesis and systematic theology. More exciting still, we now have intro music, courtesy of Kenneth Padgett of The Joy Eternal!

You can also follow the podcast on iTunes, or using this RSS feed. Listen to past episodes on Soundcloud and on this page on my blog.

*If you would like to support the production of the Mere Fidelity podcast, helping us to cover our monthly costs, please visit our Patreon page*

Posted in Bible, Controversies, Hermeneutics, NT Theology, OT Theology, Podcasts, Scripture, Theological | 1 Comment

Men, Women, and the Nature of Christian Teaching: Two Responses to Aimee Byrd

Yesterday, Aimee Byrd kindly responded to my post about a natural complementarian theology. The Calvinist International have just published my response to Byrd’s response, along with some thoughts from Dr. Eric Hutchinson:

In a fallen world, where the differences between the sexes have often been the occasion of abuse, oppression, and denigration, it is not without cause that we should want to avoid or suppress this reality and only approach the subject with the greatest trepidation, especially in mixed company.

However, as Christians I believe that we would be mistaken to do so. Far from downplaying this reality, maleness and femaleness are tightly woven into the deep structure of the biblical narrative and symbolic world, because they are so woven in the world God created. They are differences to be celebrated and rejoiced in, aspects of the life-giving playfulness of God’s world. Throughout Scripture, each sex is prominently displayed in those very respects in which it most stands out from the other. These differences are not so much differences from each other as they are differences for each other. Nor are these differences that constrain us; rather, they empower us. As we discover ourselves as man and woman and thus discover the wonder of our differences in relation, something of the richer life of the creation is revealed to us. They are differences that are best expressed, not in the dense and heavily qualified prose of gender theory, but in the surprise and joy of song. In them we experience something of the meaning of creation as the realm of God’s delight, a delight that brings all else into appropriate perspective.

Read the whole thing here.

Posted in Christian Experience, Controversies, Creation, Culture, Ethics, Guest Post, Sex and Sexuality, Society, Theological | 4 Comments

13 Today!

Today is the 13th anniversary of my first blog post. Not a lot takes place here nowadays, beyond links to posts elsewhere, but it still feels good to reach the landmark.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Podcast: The Righteous Mind

Mere FidelityIn this week’s episode of Mere Fidelity, Derek, Andrew, and I get together to discuss Jonathan Haidt’s moral foundations thesis, as laid out in his book, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion.

You can also follow the podcast on iTunes, or using this RSS feed. Listen to past episodes on Soundcloud and on this page on my blog.

*If you would like to support the production of the Mere Fidelity podcast, helping us to cover our monthly costs, please visit our Patreon page*

Posted in Controversies, Ethics, Podcasts, Politics, Sex and Sexuality, Society, Theological | 3 Comments