scholarly Archives

Biblical Theology: Volume 2: Special Grace Covenants (Old Testament)

The Second in a Powerful, Covenantal Deep Dive Author: Jeffery Niehaus After many months I carefully and completely made my way through the second deep dive into Jeffery Niehaus’ Biblical Theology covenants series. The first book, Biblical Theology, Volume 1: The Common Grace Covenants, laid the groundwork for truly understanding covenants. These ancient covenants were more than just the modern-day promises we’ve equated them too. Instead, they were binding legal agreements, serious moments between kings and their subjects with historical connotations, stipulations, witnesses, blessings, curses, and conditional and unconditional elements. The first book in the series establishes the common covenants, [...]

Created Equal: How the Bible Broke with Ancient Political Thought

God's Radical Laws of Freedom in the Old Testament Author: Joshua Berman In Created Equal Joshua Berman focuses on the Hebrew Bible (i.e., the Old Testament to Christians) and its revolutionary sociological and political precepts. In God’s ancient covenant with Israel, He broke from the prevailing king worship and tiered social structure (think “class”) of the day, using His laws and their implementation to create a society where everyone was equal. Of course, this one sentence doesn’t get to the complexity behind how this equal society was created and just how vastly different it was from all the other social structures [...]