This is no official word from above (unlike most of my blog posts). Just my opinion.<\/p>\n
Here are the two issues that I think are very important for how we think about Christian faith and how the Bible fits into that. Many would like absolute clarity on these issues, but that clarity does not exist.<\/p>\n
The two issues, one from each Testament, are (cue dramatic music):<\/p>\n
- \n
- Israelite origins <\/strong>and the meaning of the cross (atonement).<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Israelite origins<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
The question is, historically speaking, where did the historical group of people called \u201cIsraelites\u201d come from?<\/p>\n
![\"Israelite](\"https:\/\/peteenns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/israelite_origins-e1528495862524.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThat\u00a0question is not answered by biblical scholars and historians with,\u00a0\u201cJust read the Bible.\u201d The biblical story, which begins with one person Abraham and leads through Egypt to the Promised Land and a monarchy, is\u00a0fraught with many well-known and often insurmountable historical problems.<\/p>\n
It seems that the biblical account\u00a0of Israelite origins is not so much a history as it is a story, with historical echoes of various sorts, but a story nonetheless.<\/h2>\n
The further back in time we go in Israel\u2019s history, the more complex and mysterious the matter becomes. Certain events in the Old Testament are ones we can, generally speaking, hang our historical hat on. They include (working backwards):<\/p>\n
- \n
- the\u00a0Babylonian exile and return (586-539 BCE),<\/li>\n
- the siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrians (701),<\/li>\n
- and the fall of the northern kingdom by the Assyrians (722),<\/li>\n
- the division of the monarchy into north and south (around 930),<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Similarly, the existence and reigns of David and Solomon (10th century BCE) can (and I think should) be assumed as generally echoing historical events, even if the details of the biblical accounts raise some significant questions for historians.<\/p>\n
But if we continue pressing backward in time, before the monarchy, the historical nature\u00a0of the biblical accounts\u00a0is either utterly unclear or in direct tension with the general outline of history that has come to light in the past century or so. Historically speaking, we really don\u2019t know where the Israelites came from, and\u00a0the exodus and conquest stories, which are so central to\u00a0the biblical account, are particularly problematic.<\/p>\n
And, of course, here\u2019s the real problem and why I am singling out this issue above all others: Israelite origins is sort of a big deal in the Old Testament. You know, Abraham, Moses, Mt. Sinai, and all that.<\/p>\n
Engaging the historical study of Israelite origins from a position of faith in the God of Israel is a challenge, and not one that I am going to solve in this post, other than to say, \u201cWelcome to the journey; it\u2019s really no that bad once you get used to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/peteenns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/OL_Crucifixion.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe Cross<\/h2>\n
If Israelite origins is a core Old Testament issue for Christian faith, the meaning of the cross is \u00fcberimportant.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did Jesus die? What is the significance of Jesus\u2019s death?\u201d Christian theologians have been discussing these questions for as long as there have been Christian theologians, beginning with the New Testament writers themselves, and I suppose we should take some comfort in that.<\/p>\n
Yes,\u00a0Jesus died on the cross, and yes, that changed everything. But exactly what the cross changed and how it changed it can easily begin barroom fights (assuming that biblical scholars and theologians hang out in bars, which most of them do and if not they probably should).<\/p>\n
There have been\u00a0in fact a number\u00a0of \u201catonement theories\u201d out there for centuries that try to explain the significance of\u00a0Jesus\u2019s death on a Roman cross. And the reason why these theories abound isn\u2019t because theologians are looking for attention or have daddy issues they are taking out on God, but the fact that\u00a0the Bible doesn\u2019t speak with one voice on the matter.<\/p>\n
Actually, when reading\u00a0the\u00a0New Testament, you get the impression that the writers were actually trying to work it out themselves. \u201cWhy did the Messiah die as a Roman criminal?\u201d can\u2019t be answered with a few Old Testament prooftexts\u2014as if, \u201cOh yeah, duh. Obviously.\u201d The matter of a suffering and executed Messiah was a surprise that posed a deep theological challenge\u00a0for the early Christians, but one they took up with gusto.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0crucifixion of Jesus is of central importance to the\u00a0Christian\u00a0faith, but the nature of its significance is very hard to pin down. What<\/i>, exactly, did\u00a0Jesus\u2019s execution\u00a0do<\/em>? Did it appease God\u2019s wrath? Was it like a legal transaction to satisfy God\u2019s justice? Was Jesus\u2019s death\u00a0a ransom\u00a0of some\u00a0sort to free captives (see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe<\/a>
<\/span><\/em>)? Was it Jesus\u2019s victory over the power of death? Was it a moral exemplar for Christians to follow?<\/p>\n
These theories exist because they can be found in (or perhaps inferred from) the New Testament. And so when someone asks you what seems to be that most basic of questions about\u00a0Christianity, \u201cWhy did Jesus die?\u201d, the answer actually isn\u2019t obvious\u00a0but strikes at the heart of the mystery of faith. And maybe all the atonement theories are right in their own way.<\/p>\n
Anyway, this post isn\u2019t about solving Israelite origins or atonement theory. It\u2019s about how untended and even uncooperative the Bible can be if we are looking to it to pave a smooth path for us theologically. The Bible doesn\u2019t work well that way<\/a>.<\/p>\n
But perhaps better, the Bible as is, not as we might like it to be, drives us to work together by faith\u00a0<\/em>in\u00a0thinking through the nature of the Christian story and its implications.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
- Israelite origins<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n