Hymn Bark #3: When Peace Like a River

This syrupy piece of marijuana-haze hymnody is found in the hymnals of churches that have substituted sentiment for orthodoxy and worship. Hence you don’t find it in older Presbyterian hymnals, but in the Trinity Hymnal. Nor do you find it in Episcopal and Lutheran hymnals until very recently in some Lutheran books. The song would [...]

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Biblical Theology Basics #4

4. The Three Basic Phases of the Covenant We have introduced the three phases of the covenant, from childhood to adulthood to full maturity. Let us look more fully at each of these three phases. The Bible speaks of the Church as Daughter in this Old Creation phase: Daughter Zion, Daughter Jerusalem, and for converted [...]

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The Glory of Kings

HOT OFF THE PRESSES! Peter J. Leithart & John Barach, eds., The Glory of Kings: A Festschrift in Honor of James B. Jordan (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2011). Foreword — R. R. Reno Introduction — Peter J. Leithart PART ONE: BIBLICAL STUDIES 1. The Glory of the Son of Man: An Exposition of Psalm 8 — [...]

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Biblical Theology Basics 3

3. Covenant Maturation Let us now turn to the application of this One Eternal Covenant into history. We have been looking at Covenant Theology. Covenant Theology has to do with the persons of God and their relationships, with God’s relationships with humanity, and with our maturation toward being junior partners in the Divine community. Thus, [...]

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Hymn Bark #2: Holy, Holy, Holy

Hymn Bark is a series designed to purify our good hymns from errors, and purge some bad ones. Here is chapter 2: Not really much wrong with this hymn, though I wish musicians would teach the congregation how to sing it. Routinely the note at the end of line 3 is changed, which hurts the [...]

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The Wisdom of Drinking Beer with Others

When I wrote my commentary on Ecclesiastes A Table in the Mist I took Eccl. 11:1-2 as a reference to the risk of international trade. It sure did seem to me like a reference to Solomon’s risky trade with other nations. Israel exported grain (bread) and Solomon’s ships returned to him with rich cargoes (1 [...]

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Hymn Bark: The Lorica of Patrick

I begin here a series of criticisms of hymns commonly sung in Reformed and Presbyterian circles. I begin with the hymn “I bind myself,” commonly called “The Lorica. There is only one textual problem with the usual sung version of this, and that is the phrase “eternal rocks.” Obviously that phrase is heretical, and all [...]

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Biblical Theology Basics 2

2. What is the Covenant? There are many and varied descriptions of what the Bible means by the word “covenant” (Hebrew: berith). We are tempted to write that there are as many definitions of “covenant” as their are covenant theologians. Because this is a short introductory book we shall not take up who said what, [...]

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Biblical Theology Basics 1

1. What is Meant by Biblical Theology “Theology” is language (logos) about God (theos). We can distinguish two broad kinds of theology: Biblical Theology and Ecclesiastical Theology. Biblical Theology concerns the way God presents himself and his actions in the Bible itself, while Ecclesiastical Theology concerns how the Church has applied the content of the [...]

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