“We have noted thatthe two creation stories contained no pointers toward male “headship” in the sense that men or husbands are supposed to exercise authority or leadership over women or wives. But the audience of Genesis knew that patriarchy was… — John E. Goldingay Copy Share
“At the beginning of its treatment of the Ten Commandments, a rabbinic commentary on Exodus, the Mekilta of Rabbi Ishmael, raises the question why the Ten Commandments did not appear at the beginning of the Torah but appear only in the setting of the introductory words that describe Yahweh as the one who brought the people out of Egypt. To… — John E. Goldingay Copy Share
“The imprecatory psalms are for us to pray, who are not victims. Indeed, if we do not want to pray them, it raises questions… — John E. Goldingay Copy Share Image
“What is distinctive and engaging about Jesus is not the novel things he says but the way he says things. He is creative not… — John E. Goldingay Copy Share Image
“We have noted thatthe two creation stories contained no pointers toward male “headship” in the sense that men or husbands are supposed to exercise authority or leadership over women or wives. But the audience of Genesis knew that patriarchy was a reality of life. Genesis here tells them how this came to be. Male authority or domination was not God’s… — John E. Goldingay Copy Share
“God is a different league of person from us, but God is a person like us, not an abstract force or a principle. So despite the huge difference, Genesis says we are made in God’s image. Human beings are the kind of entity God would be if God were earthly. God could hardly have become a horse; horses were not… — John E. Goldingay Copy Share
“I am told there are readers of Genesis who argue the following: If evolution is true, there was no Adam and Eve. If there was no Adam and Eve, there was no fall. If there was no fall, we didn’t need Jesus to save us. But this argument has reversed things. In reality, we know we needed Jesus to save… — John E. Goldingay Copy Share
“Although the First Testament talks about slavery, Middle Eastern slavery was not an inherently oppressive institution like the European slavery accepted under the Roman Empire and then accepted by Britain and the United States. It would be better to call Middle Eastern slavery “servitude,” a servitude that could provide people who become impoverished with an economic safety net. The Torah… — John E. Goldingay Copy Share
“the order in which Genesis reports on God and Noah is significant. First it tells us Noah found grace with God. Then it tells us Noah was a person of faithfulness and integrity, and someone who walked about with God like Enoch. Then it tells us how God gave Noah instructions for surviving the coming destruction. Messing with any aspect… — John E. Goldingay Copy Share
“So that is why grace found Noah. Not surprisingly the way this worked was evidently the same as the way God’s grace works elsewhere in Scripture. There is never any basis we can find in ourselves for God’s showing grace to us. It would not then be grace. If that seems unfair, then yes, it is unfair, but it fits… — John E. Goldingay Copy Share
“the New Testament does not talk about human beings furthering or spreading or building up or working for God’s reign. Human efforts to achieve social justice are not destined to be successful. “Our responsibility is not to save the world. We are not required to transform This Age.”13 The problem about human society is too deep. As human beings living… — John E. Goldingay Copy Share
“Genesis supplements “created in God’s image” with the affirmation that God thus made humanity “male and female.” Women and men together comprise this image. The statement is an extraordinary one in this opening chapter of Genesis, written in a patriarchal culture. One might wonder whether the author of Genesis saw the implications of this declaration. Certainly generation after generation of… — John E. Goldingay Copy Share
“(Whereas we are inclined to equate the reality and the sense of the reality, these are different things—there can be a reality of God’s… — John E. Goldingay Copy Share Image
