Author Archives: James Duke

When Scripture talks about fulfillment, it talks about completing the Lord’s promises of the past, sometimes manifested in a way different from originally thought. For example, we read in Hosea’s quote, “that what the Lord said through the prophet might be fulfilled: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’” (Mt 2:15). The quote speaks ofContinue reading “Assignment 12 – Mar 2”

It seems that God’s condemnation of the people of Israel comes from frequent displays of their lack of trust in Him. The majority of content in these chapters of Numbers consists of the “wilderness generation” (called so because almost all of them die before reaching the promised land) complaining to Moses: first because of aContinue reading “Assignment 11 – Feb 20”

I would define purity/impurity as the presence/lack of order and self-discipline in one’s life. Purity is represented by a sense of both literal and metaphorical cleanliness while impurity sees equivalent forms of “dirt” discussed in Douglas’ article. While impurity is often referred within in the realm of hygiene as literal dirtiness, to quote Douglas, itContinue reading “Assignment 10 – Feb 18”

It seems that God cannot be confined to a single place or identity. The reason for this is that he does not appear to us with the characteristic of being one, but plural. According to Ratzinger, “He is not the God of a place but the God of men…He is therefore not bound to oneContinue reading “Assignment 9 – Feb 11”

It seems that Joseph plants the silver cup in Benjamin’s bag in order to test his brothers. Benjamin, the youngest of the eleven brothers, does not accompany them to Egypt the first time they come to purchase food, but when they meet with Joseph he demands they bring him or else he will keep anotherContinue reading “Assignment 8 – Feb 6”

It would seem that Jacob’s wrestling opponent is likely a divine messenger of some kind. Based on Jacob’s perseverance and the fact that he asks his opponent for a blessing, Jacob sees this fight as a sort of divine test as he is trying to really communicate with God in this scene. This is theContinue reading “Assignment 7 – Feb 4”

I would define a religion as an organized movement that seeks to bring together a community of people and provide them an explanation for that which reason and natural science cannot explain. It also exists to provide a sense of structure to one’s daily life through rules and guidelines as well as a sense ofContinue reading “Assignment 6 – 1/30”

According to Wilken, without faith, we would not be able to learn very much, even in our day-to-day lives. On page 171, he gives the example of a child “knowing” who their biological father is for no real reason other than their mother telling them so which in tern means the child “knows” through belief.Continue reading “Assignment 5 – Jan 28”

Abraham agrees to the seemingly cruel request by God that he sacrifice his one and only son because he truly fears God and holds himself to God’s mercy. If not for his earlier dedication towards God, Isaac would not have been born to him in the first place. So, since Isaac was God’s gift toContinue reading “Assignment 4 – Jan 23”

In Genesis, the story of Noah has origins indirectly resulting from the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. The eating of the forbidden fruit as discussed in the previous class instilled a sort of separation between God and man. When Eve takes the fruit, she is rejecting God’s command in favorContinue reading “Assignment 3 – 1/21/20”