I need to write papers, I am brainstorming topics.
Early church - centrality of the eucharist in pre-Nicean liturgies, Christian communities. Infant baptism?
Genesis? "let us make man in our image" ?
Romans - mercy seat and/or redemption motif in Romans 3:25-26
Judaism and Hellenism ?
Mark - thombazo, wonder and astonishment in Mark
Medieval -
Islam - mass conversions to Islam among non-Chalcedonian Christians in the middle east and Asia
Modern Judaism?
2 comments:
I've been thinking a lot about the Name of God ie the second commandment and the naming of things, and it's importance in Scripture.
It's a pretty interesting topic. God gives us his name, Yahweh. He wants us to know him. He condesends to us. He gives us his name, but be don't even put it in our Bibles (so we don't misuse it?).
Genesis 1 and 2 are great. God called it day and night. God created by speaking and then names his creation.
Then even more awesome, what is God's speech (davar in Heb, logos in grk)? What is this Word of God? The divine Word made flesh (jn 1) who created all things (col 1). Boom. Christ was the divine Word at the beginning, on the earth, (given the name Jesus - Yahweh saves), on the cross, with us now, and with us in eternity.
Not to mention Luther's take on misusing God's name in the Large Cat:
"53] From this every one can readily infer when and in how many ways God's name is misused...
54] But, the greatest abuse occurs in spiritual matters, which pertain to the conscience, when false preachers rise up and offer their lying vanities as God's Word."
What are we calling God's Word? What are we putting his name on?
Luther tells us to use God's name when vexed by the devil. I like that. At any rate, he says that it is better teach children this than to "beat them with rods and clubs."
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