Anointed with Light: Jesus Re-creates a Man

The drama increases as we progress toward Easter.  This Sunday’s readings are united by the themes of anointing and light.

The First Reading (1 Sam 16:1-13) recounts Samuel’s anointing of David as King over Israel.  Samuel journeys to Jesse of Bethlehem, and scrutinizes each of his sons in search of God’s chosen king, but to no avail.  Finally, the youngest of the eight, David, is called in from shepherding the sheep.  This at last is the future king.

(Visit Bethlehem with me in May!  Click here.)

Two points are essential for connecting this reading with the rest of the lectionary.

First is the LORD’s statement to Samuel: “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart.”  The irony of today’s Gospel Reading will likewise hinge on the fact that appearances are deceiving: from God’s perspective, the sighted are blind, but the blind can see.

Early Christian Books Found in Jordan

I just did an interview on the Drew Mariani Show (Chicago Metro drive-time radio) about this report on early Christian books found in Jordan.

Margaret Barker and Philip Davies have (apparently) already seen the books, or detailed images of them.  The story is breaking in the British press first and only slowly making it into the U.S. media.  Davies is not a man eager to believe things, but he seems genuinely intrigued by this find.  The small, lead books are bound with metal rings, and appear to be composed by Jewish Christians from the first century.  All this needs to be verified, of course.

Good News! Earth No Longer a Barren Wasteland

I got my copy of the NABRE in the mail yesterday, and quickly perused it, even though I was dead tired, just getting home from seven hours of lecturing and several meetings all the way up to 9:30pm.  I am happy to report that several readings have been changed, very much for the better!  Over the next couple days I will be blogging on some of the significant improvements--and a few changes that are perhaps less than optimal.  I still will be using the RSVCE2 for my personal reading and class teaching, but I do recommend that all Catholics involved in teaching ministry of any kind get themselves a copy of the NABRE, because it will be widely used in the Church.  Moreover, some parts are very good--like the Gospel of John, which was already good in the previous NAB.  The edition of the NABRE I purchased was this one, and I like it very much.  It has the words of Christ in red!  I personally love that, but I am shocked that such a pietistic feature got past the editorial board!  I'll have more to say on that issue in the future.

One of the first major improvements I noticed is that tohu wabohu in Genesis 1:2 is no longer egregiously rendered "barren wasteland," but rather "without form or shape," which is still a little odd but definitely a better representation of the Hebrew.  More on that tomorrow, Lord willing.

The Bridegroom Messiah Shows Up in Samaria: Reflections for the Third Sunday of Lent

The Lectionary Readings for this weekend are so powerful, we can scarcely do them justice in a single blog post.

Beginning with this Sunday, the Lectionary turns to the Gospel of John for the remainder of Lent.  We are treated to the amazing trifecta of John 4, John 9, and John 11: three of the most powerful chapters in the most powerful book in the Bible, the Spiritual Gospel, the Soaring Eagle .... JOHN!

The Church turns to these texts from John at this point in the liturgical calendar, because John is, in so many ways, a mystagogical document, a gospel intended to takes us deeper into the mysteries, that is, the sacraments.

If one is not initiated into the sacraments, John remains in many respects a closed book.  I can attest to this from personal experience.

The Beginning of the New Exodus: Reflections on the Readings for the Second Sunday of Lent

This Sunday we are only eleven days into Lent, still very early along on our Lenten pilgrimage.  The readings today share the theme of beginning the journey of faith, even while giving us a glimpse of our final destination.

In all three years of the Lectionary cycle (A, B, C), the readings for the Second Sunday of Lent always pair a key pericope from the Abraham narrative (Gen 12-22) with an account of the Transfiguration from one of the Synoptic Gospels.

The First Reading is the famous opening of the Abraham narrative from Genesis, recounting God’s initial call to Abram while he was still in Ur:

Hey There Delilah ...

First-person participatory dynamic-equivalent contemporizing exegesis of the Samson narratives:

Jesus the New Adam: Reflections on the First Sunday of Lent

The readings for today’s Mass are exceptionally rich and could be the subject of several weeks' worth of lectures, so we will have to limit ourselves today to a few central themes.

(Disclaimer to my students: many of you have heard this before.  In fact, all of this is in the tradition.  I claim no originality.)

The First Reading is the account of the Fall, in which Eve, followed by Adam, gives in to temptation by eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The classic scriptural formulation of the nature of temptation is found in 1 John 2:15-16:

 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.

The New Covenant Document is Completed

Covenant themes are shot through today’s readings, as Jesus finishes the Sermon on the Mount in a way reminiscent of covenant documents of antiquity.

Moses told the people,
“Take these words of mine into your heart and soul.
Bind them at your wrist as a sign,
and let them be a pendant on your forehead.

“I set before you here, this day, a blessing and a curse:
a blessing for obeying the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin on you today;
a curse if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,
but turn aside from the way I ordain for you today,
to follow other gods, whom you have not known.” (from Deut 11:18-32)

Our first reading is from Deuteronomy, which is The Law of Moses par excellence, since Moses takes personal responsibility for the giving of the laws in Deuteronomy in a way unlike anything previously seen in Exodus through Numbers.  We see this in today’s reading: “Moses told the people, ‘Take these words of mine into your heart and soul ...”  Moses’ responsibility for some of the laws of Deuteronomy is highlighted in Jesus’ teaching: “Moses allowed you to divorce your wives ...” (Matt 19:8).  This is significant, because some of the laws of Deuteronomy are not God’s highest and best, but accomodations authorized by Moses.

This Man Puts Things in Perspective

We owe it to this newest of Catholic martyrs, to take two minutes and watch what has become his last testimony to his faith and his struggle for peace and justice in the Middle East:

What Qualifies a Person as an Authority on Scripture or Theology?

I just received, as I am sure a lot of others did as well, several catalogs from the major theological publishers this week.  Browsing through this year's offerings, I found books by experts on every conceivable branch of theology promising to tell me what the "church" really ought to do, and what this or that portion of the bible "really" means.  I began to wonder to myself, what really makes a person an authority in these matters? 

Getting good grades and fellowships in grad school?

Landing a big contract with Brazos, Fortress, etc.?

An ivy league degree?

Being very rhetorically persuasive?

Getting a lot of speaking engagements?

Landing a "cherry" position at a major university or seminary?

What qualifies a person to understand and mediate the divine mysteries?  Is our "system" really designed to do that?

Yes, I know the sword cuts in all directions, because I've been part of the "system" myself!

Feel free to comment below.

Don't Worry, Be Happy: The Readings for the 8th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me;
my LORD has forgotten me.”
Can a mother forget her infant,
be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget,
I will never forget you. (Isaiah 49:14-15)

Today’s first reading is from the second half of Isaiah (40-66), which is, for the most part, one long word of comfort to Israel concerning the glories of the coming age.  In this passage, “Zion” is urged to take comfort in the fact that the Lord has not forgotten her.  Zion was the location in Jerusalem of the royal palace and government of the Kingdom of David.  (If you want to see it live, come with me in May to Jerusalem).  The Kingdom of David is, according to Raymond Brown ...

What is the Biblical Form of Church Government?

Yesterday's feast day, the Feast of the Chair of Peter, and today's Feast of St. Polycarp (an early bishop), bring up to my mind the issue of the structure and government of the Church.

During my years of training to become a Calvinist pastor, the issue of church polity was quite a live one.  Calvinists themselves do not agree on what is the "biblical model" for church government.  Presbyterian, Reformed, and Congregational denominations share a Calvinist doctrinal heritage but different governing structures.  There was more or less a consensus that the New Testament was unclear about the manner in which church leaders should be selected and what their roles were.

It may be true that the New Testament leaves much unsaid about the role of church leaders, but I don't think it is as unclear as we thought it was.  Rather, I think that what was clear was not seen by us, because it was unacceptable and unworkable for us.

"Be Perfect": The Readings for the Seventh Week of Ordinary Time

The readings for the Seventh Week continue to explore Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.

The First Reading, from Leviticus 19, recalls that fact that ancient Israel was called to be a holy people because God dwelled among them.

The Book of Exodus ends with the completion and dedication of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness of Sinai.  God’s presence inhabits the Tabernacle, in the center of the Israelite camp.  From one perspective, the Book of Leviticus (most folks’ least favorite book of the Bible, although the one on which I wrote my dissertation) can be understood as a collection of laws to teach Israel how to live in the holy presence of their God.

Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: #1 in Catholic Books on Amazon!

I don't know how long this will last (probably not long!), but as of today, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist, which was released two days ago, is ranked at #1 in three Amazon.com bestsellers lists!:

#1 in Books on Catholicism
#1 in Books on Judaism
#1 in Books on Ritual

I am a happy man.

To top it all off, on the Catholicism list and Ritual list, I'm shoulder to shoulder with my two favorite Catholic authors: Pope Benedict XVI and Scott Hahn.

Thanks again to everybody who helped with this project, especially the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, who gave me a generous grant to begin the research some five years ago.

Ad majorem dei gloriam!

Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist Released Today!

Today's the day! After five years of research, and many months of waiting, my new book, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist, was officially released by Doubleday Religion today, February 15th! 

As many of you know, I've been working on two manuscripts alongside one another for the last several years: one a readable and accesible book with Doubleday Religion and another longer academic monograph on Jesus and the Last Supper with Eerdmans. (The latter is still in progress.) These years of research on the eucharistic words and deeds of Jesus have been some of the most exciting of my life; it's tremendously gratifying to finally get to share some of it in print with a wide audience.

Here's a brief description from the Random House website, as well as the table of contents:

About The Book
In recent years, Christians everywhere are rediscovering the Jewish roots of their faith. Every year at Easter time, many believers now celebrate Passover meals (known as Seders) seeking to understand exactly what happened at Jesus’ final Passover, the night before he was crucified.

     Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist shines fresh light on the Last Supper by looking at it through Jewish eyes. Using his in-depth knowledge of the Bible and ancient Judaism, Dr. Brant Pitre answers questions such as: What was the Passover like at the time of Jesus? What were the Jewish hopes for the Messiah? What was Jesus’ purpose in instituting the Eucharist during the feast of Passover? And, most important of all, what did Jesus mean when he said, “This is my body… This is my blood”?

     To answer these questions, Pitre explores ancient Jewish beliefs about the Passover of the Messiah, the miraculous Manna from heaven, and the mysterious Bread of the Presence. As he shows, these three keys—the Passover, the Manna, and the Bread of the Presence—have the power to unlock the original meaning of the Eucharistic words of Jesus. Along the way, Pitre also explains how Jesus united the Last Supper to his death on Good Friday and his Resurrection on Easter Sunday. 
      Inspiring and informative, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist is a groundbreaking work that is sure to illuminate one of the greatest mysteries of the Christian faith: the mystery of Jesus’ presence in “the breaking of the bread.”

Table of Contents
Foreword by Scott Hahn
Introduction
1. The Mystery of the Last Supper
2. What Were the Jewish People Waiting For?
3. The New Passover
4. The Manna of the Messiah
5. The Bread of the Presence
6. The Fourth Cup and the Death of Jesus
7. The Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith
8. On the Road to Emmaus


Thanks
For a full list of thanks-givings, you can see the acknowledgements section of the book. But I would like a take a moment here to especially thank my good friend Scott Hahn, who graciously agreed to write the Foreword to the book, my editors at Doubleday Religion, especially Gary Jansen and John Burke, for their fantastic hard work in bringing the whole thing to fruition. 
Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank my wife Elizabeth, to whom the book is dedicated, for everything. To top off what is already a great day, the book, which is dedicated to Elizabeth, was (in God's providence) released on her birthday! 
Happy birthday, my love. I hope you like your present.

Jesus, the Divine Law-Giver: Thoughts on the Lectionary for the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time

In the Gospel Reading for today’s Mass (Feb. 13), we continue to read from the Sermon on the Mount (Mat 5:17-37):

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill....

“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.
But I say to you, whoever is angry with brother will be liable to judgment ....

“You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery.
But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust
has already committed adultery with her in his heart....

It was also said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce.
But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife - unless the marriage is unlawful -
causes her to commit adultery....

“Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow.
But I say to you, do not swear at all....

In this Gospel Reading, Jesus “dares” to correct not only the common interpretations of the Law of Moses, but even (in places) the Law of Moses itself!

What is the Pillar and Bullwark of the Truth?

Here’s one of those verses I never saw for thirty years before becoming a Catholic:

1Tim. 3:14   I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instructions to you so that,  15 if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth.

St. Paul here asserts that the Church is “the pillar and bulwark of the truth.” (I accept Bo Reicke’s arguments that the pastoral epistles are genuinely Pauline.)

Can a Calvinist call the Church the “pillar and bulwark of the truth”?  I submit: only with difficulty.  A Calvinist is much more comfortable calling the Scriptures the “pillar and bulwark of the truth.”  But that verse isn’t in the Bible.

What ecclesiology is assumed by the statement “the Church ... [is] the pillar and bulwark of the truth”?

I suggest it entails an ecclesiology in which the Church is a (1) single, (2) visible body.

If the Church wasn’t a single body, it could not serve very well as the “pillar and bulwark” of the truth, because one would not know which of the various churches was teaching the truth.

If the Church wasn’t a visible body, it could not serve very well as the “pillar and bulwark of the truth,” because it could not be identified with certainty, nor could it speak with clarity.  An invisible, voiceless Church cannot be the support and defense of the truth.

Therefore, I submit that St. Paul assumes that Church is a single, visible body.  His ecclesiology is Catholic.

But everyone is free to contradict me.  Share your thoughts in the comments.

The Confession iApp

The priest who is co-leading a pilgrimage to the Holy Land May 9-18 with me, Fr. Dan Scheidt, was part of the team who came up with the first iApp to receive an imprimatur.

Father Dan was the theological consultant for the project, and then got the finished app an imprimatur from Fort Wayne-South Bend's (think "Notre Dame's") Bishop Kevin Rhodes.

Friends from South Bend sent me an announcement a few weeks ago:

The app received an imprimatur from Bishop Kevin C. Rhodes of the Diocese of Fort Wane - South Bend, IN. It is the first known imprimatur to be given for an iPhone/iPad application. The text was developed in collaboration with Rev. Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM, Executive Director of the Secretariat for Doctrine and Pastoral Practices of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Rev. Daniel Scheidt, pastor of Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Mishawaka, IN.

The release of the app follows Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for January 2011: "That young people may learn to use modern means of social communication for their personal growth and to better prepare themselves to serve society."

To see the app, click here.

For an example of the buzz it's creating in the news media, click here.

To go on a pilgrimage with this amazing priest, click here.

UPDATE: The buzz has already reached the Vatican: click here.

UPDATE: Interview with the South Bend creators of the iApp: click here.

In the Beginning, God Created ...

Speaking of translations, the Mass readings for today (Feb 7) began with Genesis 1:1. The version used in mass is an adaptation of the NAB, and reads:

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland ...

Interestingly, "when" is not in the Hebrew. The Hebrew, according to the Masoretic pointing, reads "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." I did a study on this some years ago, and all the ancient translations--the Greek (LXX), the Latin (V), the Syriac (S), etc.--also read "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

Nonetheless, the NAB's reading--with the slipped-in "when", which makes v. 1 a temporal clause with v. 2, rather than a separate sentence--is the current "fashionable" approach. That's how the NRSV and the New Jewish Publication Society (NJPS) versions also read. What's the agenda here?

It also raises an interesting question. What does it mean to say, "The text means X," when there's no evidence that anyone understood the text to mean "X" prior to, say, your own generation? Second Temple Judaism, the New Testament authors, the Church Fathers, the Medievals, etc. all read "In the beginning God created ..." What does it mean to now say, that's not the "meaning" of the text? Can the "meaning" really be different than what everyone understood the meaning to be? Whatever one's answer, it's an interesting question.

The NAB: Why It's Better to Stay Literal When Possible

Adding on to Michael's comments below on the NAB, I want to point out my personal pet peeve with the translation.

The RSVCE, 2nd ed., provides a fairly literal translation of Psalm 8:4-6:

What is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him little less than the angels,
and you have crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands,
and have put all things under your feet.

The NAB, however, renders v. 4:

What are humans that you are mindful of them,
Mere mortals that you care for them?

Rendering the Hebrew "son of man" as "mere mortals" has multiple difficulties--moving from singular to plural, introducing the concept of "mere," and guessing that the sacred author's intention was to stress the mortality of humanity as the salient issue in his poem.

But most of all, based on Psalm 8:4-6, Daniel 7:13, and other texts, the title "Son of Man" acquired a messianic sense in Second Temple Judaism (i.e. the Judaism of the New Testament). The "Son of Man" in some pseudepigraphal Second Temple documents, like 1 Enoch, is a supernatural savior figure, not a "mere mortal"!

This sheds light on what Jesus meant when he called himself "The Son of Man." He was not claiming to be mortal. He was claiming to be the one who has "dominion over all the works of [God's] hands", and who has "all things under his feet" (see Ephesians 2:22!). That Jesus meant his self-identification as "Son of Man" messianically is clear in his testimony before the Sanhedrin (Matt 26:54).

My point is, the NAB translation obscures the messianic reading of Psalm 8 and removes the verbal connection with Daniel 7 and Jesus' preferred form of self-identification. The intertextual dynamics of Scripture are obfuscated.

Having said that, let me also state that I appreciate the NAB translation of the Gospel of John, which highlights the "I AM" statements of Jesus. On the "I AM's" of John, the shoe is on the other foot: the various forms of the RSV add in too many words in English, obscuring the literal sense of the Greek.