Tag: Religion

Temples

Todd and Tyler discuss temples. The functions of temples in different cultures and the temples of Ancient Israel in particular. The various offerings and sacrifices. The concepts of holiness and separation. Christian theologies of the way temple worship carried over into the body of Christ in the Church and the Eucharist. Margaret Barker’s provocative theories about Josiah’s reforms and Deuteronomistic influence on temple worship. And the place of secrets, mysteries, and parables in religious life.

Catholicism and Latter-day Saints

Todd and Tyler talk about Catholicism and Latter-Day Saints (Mormonism), particularly as discussed in the writings of Stephen Webb (Catholic) and Alonzo Gaskill (LDS). Topics include authority, ecclesiology, general conference, catechism, canon, extra-canonical texts, and pseudepigrapha. We talk about Webb’s special interest in the metaphysics of matter and how that features in both religions. Also the afterlife, Spirit Prison, Purgatory, the incorporeality or corporeality of the Father, and Christology.

The Book of Revelation, Part 4

Todd and Tyler conclude a four-part series on the Book of Revelation. Subjects discussed include eating the scroll, the woman clothed with the sun, the child, the dragon, the beasts from the sea and the earth, Babylon and its fall, the lament of the merchants of the earth, the testimony of Jesus as the spirit of prophecy, the new heaven and new earth, and making all things new. We end with a discussion about the power of the book as a testimony of Christ and how all its imagery inspires devotion, praise, and worship.

Two Powers in Heaven

Todd and Tyler talk about the Two Powers in Heaven thesis, the idea that in Second Temple Judaism and earlier there was understood to be a secondary divine figure alongside the primary God, YHWH. We discuss the Angel of the Lord, the Word of the Lord, and the Son of Man. We go into texts from the Hebrew Bible as well as extra-Biblical texts like the Book of Enoch, Targums, and Talmudic texts. We talk about similarities between the divine beings in Israel and in Canaanite religion. One interesting implication of all this is that many features of Christianity sometimes thought to be innovations, with possible Greek influence or even corruption, were rather native to the milieu of Second Temple Judaism. These include an understanding of God as more than one person, the Messiah as a divine figure, the Logos or Word of the Lord, and the Son of Man.