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Supersessionism Hard and Soft

Supersessionism describes the theological conviction that the Christian Church has superseded the Jewish people, assuming their role as God’s covenanted people, Israel. At first glance, supersessionism seems to be a core Christian belief, making any fruitful dialogue between Jews and Christians . . . . Continue Reading »

Briefly Noted

Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts:  Twelve Journeys into the Medieval World by christopher de hamel penguin, 640 pages, $45 Illuminated manuscripts remain cultural touchstones of the Middle Ages, symbols of forgotten learning, mystery, and beauty. Unfortunately, they are often locked away in . . . . Continue Reading »

Grace

On a hazy afternoon in late May 1986, I wait, as I wait every weekday afternoon in a parking lot in Branford, Connecticut, for my son to be dismissed from school. While I wait, I listen to Ceci, another mother new to the school, whose son is in my son’s class. She is telling me about her car. From . . . . Continue Reading »

The Church’s Book

The Bible in a Disenchanted Age:  The Enduring Possibility of Christian Faith by r. w. l. moberly baker, 240 pages, $24.99 The Book of the People:  How to Read the Bible by a. n. wilson harper, 224 pages, $26.99  The Bible and the Believer:  How to Read the Bible Critically & . . . . Continue Reading »

The Religious Elite

Recently, while poring over a section from the Bible with my Catholic tutor, we came across a passage that surely must be the most irritating one in all of Scripture to a secular liberal. No, it is not Genesis 1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” which to a Marxist is the . . . . Continue Reading »

Historical-Critical Qur’an

The Qurʾān and the Bible:  Text and Commentary by gabriel said reynolds yale, 1032 pages, $40 This book is misleadingly named. The blame, if blame there be, rests with the stingy conventions of contemporary publishing. The work deserves one of those splendidly prolix seventeenth-century . . . . Continue Reading »

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