Recent comments
peter wilkinson commented on Brian McLaren, A New Kind of Christianity: the question about the violence of God
(03/10/2010 - 14:42)
I am saying that human beings can’t do better than their very best at any given moment to communicate about God as they understand God, and that Scripture faithfully reveals the evolution of our ancestors’ best attempts to communicate their successive best understandings of God. As human capacity...
Gustavo commented on Mk. 13:24-27 - Re-registering the coming of the Son of man
(02/08/2010 - 10:44)
Well, we have probably exhausted this discussion. You are still not addressing my thoroughly consistent reading of the concluding section, vv. 28-37 (“interpretive key”) which makes all of the features of what I call procedural register throughout the speech (hotan clauses...
Andrew commented on Mk. 13:24-27 - Re-registering the coming of the Son of man
(01/28/2010 - 12:50)
Gustavo, sorry to have taken so long to reply to your comments - it’s been a rather chaotic few weeks.
1. I don’t understand how you can be so dismissive of ‘in those days’: en ekeinais tais hēmerais sounds rather emphatic to me. You didn’t address the point I...
Andrew commented on Matt. 28:16-20 - The not so Great Commission
(01/28/2010 - 12:40)
I don’t see a need to go beyond “an apocalyptic narrative that addresses the situation of the people of God in the context of a hostile pagan culture.” That narrative is cosmic.
I agree that the overarching narrative of scripture is cosmic or creational. But that does not mean, in my view,...
Gustavo commented on Mk. 13:24-27 - Re-registering the coming of the Son of man
(12/29/2009 - 12:39)
Let me address those points in approximate order.
1. “In those days”. I really do not make that much of this phrase. There is no need to. You need to address also “after,” and the clause initial “But” which most commentators and other...
James commented on Matt. 28:16-20 - The not so Great Commission
(12/22/2009 - 04:46)
In the first place, I agree with you that Jesus’ arch-opponent was Satan. But I’m not sure that this takes us very far beyond an apocalyptic narrative that addresses the situation of the people of God in the context of a hostile pagan culture.
I don’t see a need to go beyond “an apocalyptic...
Andrew commented on Mk. 13:24-27 - Re-registering the coming of the Son of man
(12/19/2009 - 20:13)
In those days…
Gustavo, I take your point that ‘in those days’ is formulaic. But having heard Jesus twice make reference to ‘those days’ (Mk. 13:17, 19) and then speak of the shortening of the ‘days’ for the sake of the ‘elect whom he chose...
Gustavo Martin commented on Mk. 13:24-27 - Re-registering the coming of the Son of man
(12/19/2009 - 17:14)
Andrew,
Thank you for taking the time to read and respond. I really appreciate it.
Here are my thoughts in response to yours.
Regarding the shift in v. 24. You write
Martin acknowledges that Jesus repeats ‘in those days’ (en ekeinais tais hēmerais) from verse 19, but does not explain...
Andrew commented on Matt. 28:16-20 - The not so Great Commission
(12/08/2009 - 10:08)
James,
In the first place, I agree with you that Jesus’ arch-opponent was Satan. But I’m not sure that this takes us very far beyond an apocalyptic narrative that addresses the situation of the people of God in the context of a hostile pagan culture. Roughly speaking, I would argue that...
James Walden commented on Matt. 28:16-20 - The not so Great Commission
(12/07/2009 - 06:21)
Andrew,
I would agree with all of your comments about Jesus’ statements about “all authority,” in so far as it goes. But you then delimit the “broader apocalyptic narrative” to the immediate historical context of the Roman Empire. May I suggest that the broader...
peter wilkinson commented on Review of the (proxy?) review of the response to the critique of the argument: Wright and the righteousness of God
(11/26/2009 - 17:13)
In Andrew’s penultimate paragraph, the 2nd and 3rd psalms referred to should be Ps 96:13 and Ps 98:9. I think there is another way of looking at this, though I entirely agree with Andrew that there is far more of judgment in history in OT and NT than has been made clear.
The...
peter wilkinson commented on Lk. 13:22-24 - Are those being saved few?
(11/18/2009 - 13:43)
Sorry Andrew, I think we misunderstand each other, and the kingdom of God comment was probably slightly off the point.
I was simply responding to your observation that the kingdom of God was not an infinitely remote event, by which I guess you mean that the only valid use of the expression is...
Andrew commented on Lk. 13:22-24 - Are those being saved few?
(11/18/2009 - 13:14)
But so were many other things expressions of the kingdom of God; and to my mind more significant to us today than the fall of Jerusalem.
Just because this is Jesus who is speaking does not mean that we have to load his words with all the meaning that comes with hindsight. I regard it simply...
peter wilkinson commented on Lk. 13:22-24 - Are those being saved few?
(11/18/2009 - 12:45)
I see continuity and discontinuity following Jeremiah 33:25-26, or at least, in how that prophecy was fulfilled. Continuity for the people of God in they are now formed; discontinuity with Israel in her historic form. The patriarchs are invoked in Luke13:28 to underline discontinuity with...
Andrew commented on Lk. 13:22-24 - Are those being saved few?
(11/18/2009 - 11:48)
Clearly you’re right – these teachings are not just about the war against Rome as an outworking of divine judgment against a rebellious people. There is judgment, but there is also a salvation from judgment, just as in the prophets the foreseen invasion of Israel by the Assyrians or...
Michael C Thompson commented on Lk. 13:1-5 - The killing of the Galileans and the collapse of the tower in Siloam
(11/17/2009 - 22:08)
Well, for what it’s worth, I’m with you on this. And I think you’re right to see the context of imminent judgement as the key to the passage. Even when this passage is used in ‘problem-of-evil’ discussions it is not connected to Jewish restoration, which...
peter wilkinson commented on Lk. 13:22-24 - Are those being saved few?
(11/17/2009 - 18:40)
How do you square 13:24-29 with your interpretation? In other words, how does trying to enter through a ‘narrow door’ fit with judgment on Jerusalem? How does standing outside knocking and pleading for the door to be opened and to be let in fit with that event? It should be the other...
Andrew commented on Lk. 13:22-24 - Are those being saved few?
(11/17/2009 - 17:08)
Peter, I think it’s unlikely that ‘few’ is meant to contrast with ‘filled’ in Luke 14:23. On the one hand, Matthew 22:23, which significantly comes at the end of Matthew’s version of the wedding feast parable, suggests that Jesus would have agreed with the...
peter wilkinson commented on Lk. 13:22-24 - Are those being saved few?
(11/17/2009 - 14:23)
Depends what is meant by ‘few’. ‘Few’ in 13:23 contrasts with ‘full’ in 14:23. Doesn’t the whole context of 13:22-30 suggest a wider setting than AD 70?
