Category Archives: Uncategorized

What does Scripture mean by “fulfillment”? In the reading “Scribes of the Kingdom,” Jesus is described as the fulfillment “because he realizes in himself the whole of God’s work in Israel.” The author points out how Matthew describes God’s lament over Israel’s faithfulness in reference to Jesus. The quote from Hosea says “When Israel wasContinue reading “March 3”

In Numbers 14:43, Moses says to the Israelites, “‘Because you have turned away from the Lord, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.’” This is the basis of their condemnation. Because the ‘wilderness generation’ has lost their trust in the Lord, they must be condemned by him. If theContinue reading “Feb 20”

What is purity/ impurity? According to Douglas purity can be seen in both a physical sense and a symbolic sense. For our everyday purposes, we can view “purity” as a hygienic term relating to the absence of dirt. However, Douglas points out that we can actually connect the two meanings of purity. She says thatContinue reading “Feb 18”

Who is God? Every religion, every individual even, has their own idea of who God is. In the article, Joseph Ratzinger discusses the naming of God in the Moses story and how that comes to define God. Ratzinger begins by discussing the different labels people have attributed to beliefs pertaining to the existence of (orContinue reading “Feb 11”

In the article, Anderson refers to a quote from Levenson that describes Joseph’s story as “the crescendo to the theme of the beloved son,” and when you look closely at the text, this is true. Anderson points out that the four themes of the “beloved son” story are surprise, cost, rivalry, and mystery. He thenContinue reading “Feb 6”

The identity of Jacob’s assailant is a mystery, but Kass offers a number of suggestions for who he could possibly be. The first suggestion is the traditional view that the opponent is an angel. Some people think he is a symbol for Jacob’s conscience/ fears, but the physicality of the fight suggests that it isContinue reading “Feb 4”

In his essay, William Cavanaugh states that “the inability to define ‘religion’ has been called ‘almost an article of methodological dogma’ in the field of religious studies.” He explains how, for a long time (and even now), religion has been given various definitions, and then is weaponized based on those definitions in order to argueContinue reading “Jan 30”

Wilken begins this chapter with a quote from  Saint Augustine: “Nothing would remain stable in human society if we determined to believe only what can be held with absolute certainty” (162). This quote sets up the framework for what’s discussed in the rest of the chapter. Wilken first talks about Augustine’s argument for the everContinue reading “Jan 28”

Abraham agrees to this request because he had full trust in God. As Kass points out, Abraham had a couple of reasons to obey God as soon as God began speaking to him. God promises Abraham “land, seed, and a great name,” which were all appealing to Abraham. Abraham also had reasons to believe thatContinue reading “Jan 23”

Although the account of the first sin and the story Noah have very different premises and outcomes, they both present the same themes. Both stories deal with disobedience as a result of humans acting in the isolated pursuit of their own self interest. The differences in these stories further the development of the relationship betweenContinue reading “Jan 21”