Threads from Henry's Web

Author: henry

  • Notes on Leviticus Commentaries

    A few weeks ago I compared two commentaries on Leviticus.  One of these was Samuel E. Balentine’s volume in the Interpretation commentary series.  In that review I noted that I was only half-way through my read of Balentine, but thought I could still make some valid comments.

    I have now finished my read, and I still stand by what I wrote earlier.  This is a very strong theological commentary with a very useful emphasis on liturgy.  While I have learned more nuts and bolts elsewhere, I got some of the best ideas on how one might teach and apply Leviticus by reading Balentine.  This is, of course, the intention of the interpretation series, so it’s nice to know that they do it well in this case.

    I have read through several commentaries on Leviticus over the last few years, and they vary greatly in purpose and approach.  I thought I’d include some very brief comparison notes.

    My all-time favorite commentary on Leviticus is Jacob Milgrom’s three volume commentary in the Anchor Bible series (my review).  While it’s my favorite, it has a number of drawbacks for the average preacher or for a lay person.  It makes extensive use of both Biblical languages and other ancient near eastern materials, and one may be quite confused if one doesn’t already have some understanding.  The material is translated, however, which alleviates the problem a bit.

    The sheer volume of material, which is very attractive, also makes it a bit difficult to use for any sort of quick reference.  You really have to dig in to get the benefit.  When I studied, for example, I would read the chapter first in Hebrew, then go through the commentary text, after which I would read the Hebrew text again checking my notes.  This is not a sign of great diligence on my part; Milgrom does enough work with word definitions to make one feel that one didn’t really get it on first read!  Nonetheless, the experience is very rewarding.

    The commentary to which I compared the Interpretation volume earlier is David W. Baker’s portion of the Cornerstone Biblical Commentary Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.  I’m now about half-way through Numbers in this volume, and the quality remains quite even despite different authors.  It may seem a bit unfair to compare one book out of a volume that covers three books to a single volume commentary, but I think the Cornerstone volume comes out rather well considering its purpose.

    I think Christians may not pay enough attention to Baruch Levine’s commentary on Leviticus in the JPS Commentary on the Torah series. Actually, I am really referring to this entire series, which provides substantial information on how the text is read in Judaism (admittedly not from an Orthodox perspective), but does so clearly and simply.  I enjoyed the entire set.

    If you can still lay hold of it, which you probably can in a decent university library, there’s always Martin Noth’s commentary in the Old Testament Library series.  It may, however, be one to avoid.  Doubtless Noth was a great scholar, and I enjoyed his commentary thoroughly, but if you’re looking for material to preach or teach from to a lay audience, it’s not going to be nearly as much help.  Noth is quite thoroughly occupied with critical issues and much less so with theology and application.

    On my immediate future reading list is Gordon J. Wenham’s Leviticus (New International Commentary on the Old Testament). I’ll have to wait for it to arrive via inter-library loan. I’ll post on it after I’ve had a chance to read it.

  • Christian Carnival Call for Submissions

    I’ve been a bit delinquent in that I occasionally host the Christian Carnival, but I haven’t regularly announced it. The carnival is posted each Wednesday, and submissions are due by midnight Tuesday, though they are welcomed earlier.

    The next carnival will be hosted by Crossroads, and the best way to submit your entry is by using the submission form at blogcarnival.com.

    Check out the requirements for inclusion, and then submit your best work from the week.

  • Great Dismissive Review Line

    Steve Matheson regarding Chapter 6 of Steven Meyer’s Signature in the Cell: “It’s short, unimportant and uninteresting.” That will show him!

  • Am I a Complementarian?

    Michael Patton has taken it upon himself to define both complementarianism and egalitarianism and I think he gets it almost completely wrong. Now I must note that I really like reading Michael Patton’s blog posts and I think he writes with an irenic tone that promotes Christian unity, and in the end he does that even in this post.

    What I disagree with are his basic definitions. As I read it, he says that egalitarians deny essential differences between men and women, while complementarians affirm such differences. To quote:

    The belief that God has created men and women equal in all things. Men and women are ontologically and functionally equal. The way the sexes function in the church, society, and the family is determined by individual giftedness, not role distinctions according to the sexes. Therefore, each person should be judged individually when being placed in a particular position. We should exemplify this reality by overcoming the stereotypical placement that has traditionally been a part of societies in human history, thereby giving freedom to individuals to follow the path that God has uniquely created them for, whatever that may be. In doing so, we should no longer educate or indoctrinate according to any of the former stereotypes, including those of basic masculinity and femininity. [Emphasis mine, indicating my strongest disagreement; I disagree with the rest to varying extents.]

    And of course, complentarians are just the opposite on those key points. He continues to argue that to be consistent, egalitarians need to deny pretty much all differences that are essential and imply that men and women are pretty much the same, except for the plumbing.

    I don’t know whether there are complementarians that fit Dr. Patton’s description of them. I know very few egalitarians who fully fit his definition of them. I certainly do not. To me, it looks like an attempt at reductio ad absurdum on the egalitarian position.

    In fact, I would state my own essential position quite differently. It is simply that every person, irrespective of gender, should be permitted to serve in the church as they are called and gifted by God. My egalitarian position says nothing whatsoever about how many men or women will or will not possess what gifts and what calling. That is precisely what I reject. I do not think they are ontologically and functionally equal. I just don’t believe that the offices of the church are necessarily tied to such function and ontology, nor do I think that each man and each woman can be defined solely as “man” or “woman.” There are an abundance of other differences.

    By implication I am claiming that both men and women may possess those gifts, and indeed that some of each will. My position would be pretty silly if there were no women so gifted, or no men.

    What I would ask would be that the simple fact of one’s gender not be the basis of determination. I would think complementarians should be able to work with this quite well. If they are right about essential differences (and here I rely on Dr. Patton’s definition of complementarianism), then one should be able to point to the absence of certain appropriate gifts or character traits that would exclude each and every woman from the position of teaching or being in a position of authority over men.

    I am quite capable to declaring that a woman is not called to the ministry, nor gifted for it. I have been in the position of having to say so both to a candidate face to face and to the people who were considering her. (I would never say this to the committee if I was unwilling to say it to the candidate’s face.) But I have encountered even more men who were not qualified, and in my opinion neither gifted nor called. I believe the church needs to be able to make such a decision through whatever mechanisms are available.

    I neither know nor do I care what the proportion there is between men and women who are gifted for ministry and called to various church offices. I simply assert that there are some of each and when they are gifted and called the church should admit it and let them serve. Their pastoral and/or teaching roles might even be quite different from one another, and that is good as well.

    A further implication of Dr. Patton’s definition, at least as I see it, is that no essentially feminine characteristics would be appropriate to the pastoral role. I would again disagree. I don’t think that a calling to pastoral ministry would mean that a woman must have some collection of masculine characteristics. In fact, one of the benefits to ministry would be the use of some of the characteristics that are often seen as feminine.

    In answer to the question in the title, I don’t think I am, but following the definition Dr Patton used, I might be one of those really odd complementarians who accepts differences between men and women, but doesn’t believe those differences mean no woman can be a pastor.

    Besides, don’t we all have a measure of submission to at least one man–Jesus Christ?

    And on that, I’m pretty sure Dr. Patton and I agree. We further agree that we are not dealing with an essential of the faith. It is an issue on which I have a strongly held and deeply felt position, but not one on which we must divide the body of Christ.

  • Christian Carnival CCCXV Posted

    … at Ancient Hebrew Poetry.  We could call this one the “he did it his way” edition.  I’m personally quite favorable to the idea of a bit of variety in approaches to the carnival, including this one.

  • Congratulations to the British

    According to Newsweek, Britain’s Court of Appeals has ordered the release of information on the torture of a British resident while in U. S. custody (HT: Dispatches). Both the Bush and then the Obama administrations have argued against releasing this information and threatened the British with refusing to share intelligence if it was released.

    I think a good friend lets you know when you’re wrong and a good ally holds you accountable, even and especially when you fail to do it yourself. We are very, very wrong on the issue of torture in this country. In a small but important way we’re being held accountable.

    Kudos to the folks who did it!

  • More on the Citizens United Case

    I commented on this case earlier, and I still stand by what I said, but via Dispatches from the Culture Wars I found this article by Julian Sanchez, and he asks a very valid question.

    On the one hand, maybe for all our folly we’re basically engaged enough—or the people who decide to vote are engaged enough—that we can sift through the media maelstrom and figure out, on average, whose principles, character, and record best represent our community. On the other hand, maybe we’re a bunch of chimps who will vote for the shiny thing. I incline toward the latter, but I’ve never been all that big on the intrinsic virtues of democracy. I just have trouble wrapping my head around the view that combines these two beliefs: (1) The wisdom of the people, on the whole, justifies not just the installation of Candidate A over Candidate B, but a whole array of coercive state policies, and also (2) We’re really easily led, and will sell our firstborn to Altria if a slick ad says to. It seems strange for both those things to be true.

    Perhaps he’s a bit pessimistic, but it seems to me that the concern in this case is a bit paternalistic. We can’t manage as voters to sort out the various ads that we see, but we are somehow qualified to choose the people who will decide just what ads we will get to see, and how we can group together to pursue our political goals.

    That’s the problem with a sort of “elitist democracy.” The elite have to make sure that the rest of us vote for the right people. The people we vote into office are somehow qualified to decide which messages we should hear while we decide whether to vote them back into office again.

    I believe that corporations do have a great deal of influence on how elections go. They have even more influence on the crafting of legislation after the election. But there’s a funny thing here. No matter how many laws are passed regulated elections the influence doesn’t seem to change. It makes one wonder whether those legislators are all that well qualified to deal with excessive influence.

    Of course the corporations most involved in the election process are exempt from this regulation–the press. The traditional media are free to put their message in front of the people without regulation. That’s as it should be, but it makes one wonder why a few paid ads by other corporations are somehow so dangerous, while an entire season of biased reporting by supposedly objective media is such a major danger.

  • Sacrificing for Joy

    The Old Testament Lectionary passage for the first Sunday in Lent, cycle C is Deuteronomy 26:1-11.  It’s kind of an odd text for this season.  You might almost use it as a text for Fat Tuesday.

    I’m going to comment more on the lectionary texts this week, if for no other reason than because I’ve been asked to teach the weekly Lectionary at Lunch group at First United Methodist Church of Pensacola for my friend Rev. Geoffrey Lentz.  I plan to provide another set of comparisons between various study Bibles and what they contribute to the study.  But first I want to note two things from this passage.

    First, Christians often assume that grace is our contribution to religion and that the Israelite religion was one of works and rituals.  But in the confession of faith in this passage, Israel’s faith and worship is clearly rooted in God’s gracious acts to Israel.  God reaches out first and people respond.

    Second, the people bring a sacrifice of first fruits, and it’s not just given in thanks, it’s given for the purpose of having a celebration together.

    It’s easy for us to look down on rituals and ceremonies or on good works in general.  Often this reflects a lack of such works on our own part.  But the real issue is not whether one worships in high or low liturgy, or whether one engages in good works.  Rather, it’s where those acts of worship and good deeds are rooted.  When we are expressing God’s grace through our deeds, and responding to God’s grace in worship, our worship will tend to be filled with God’s presence, and truly be good.

    Without being rooted in God’s grace, we will engage in empty rituals and deeds done for the purpose of earning God’s favor.  Such acts are dead and do not lead to joy.

    Note that the confession comes before the party, just as God’s salvation comes prior to the response.  That is a pattern that is repeated in both the Old Testament and the New.

  • Affliction as Our Schoolmaster

    St. John Chrysostom on affliction as our schoolmaster at Classical Arminianism.  After reading it, ask yourself how much affliction deepens your Bible study.

  • Lent with Lectionary and the Mosaic Bible

    It’s been some time since I posted on the Mosaic Bible in connection with lectionary reading, but we’re entering an excellent season for using these tools together.  (For what it’s worth, I use The Text this Week for the lectionary passages.)

    While the passages don’t match for the first week of Lent, the Mosaic Bible reading does include Psalm 51 which is one of the Ash Wednesday passages.  But this isn’t the most important issue.  The readings are valuable and will provide an additional resource, including the scriptures (Gen. 2:15-17 3:1-7, Psalm 51, 1 Peter 3:13-22, and Matthew 4:1-11, which parallels Luke 4:1-13 from Lectionary year C).  There is a good reading from John Charles Ryle, a discussion of sacrifice and how it runs counter to our culture by Eileen Button, along with a couple of meditations that could be useful in your worship service.

    Again, I find the Mosaic Bible an exceptional devotional resource and frequently an aid to study following the lectionary as well.