Chris Brubaker

Reading Scripture Like a Novel: Characters, Part 2

As mentioned in Part 1, Genesis 1-3 provides Scripture’s own unique character categories that subsequent characters often fall into. Grasping these character categories is key to both understanding the plot conflict and perceiving the unified nature of the metanarrative. (For ease of use and understanding, we’ll use the terms “actor” instead of “character” or “individualContinue reading “Reading Scripture Like a Novel: Characters, Part 2”

Reading Scripture Like a Novel: Characters, Part 1

Just as the first three chapters of Genesis provide the initial taste of the cosmic setting of the Biblical metanarrative, these same chapters also provide the prototype for the characters to follow. And similar to the way the named characters in a modern novel fit into our larger storytelling categories of protagonist, antagonist, and others,Continue reading “Reading Scripture Like a Novel: Characters, Part 1”

Reading Scripture Like a Novel: Setting

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth… Genesis 1:1-2a NET This may seem obvious, but it’s worth noting. The Scriptural metanarrative begins by providing the setting. This is a story about the heavens and the earth. And while the heavens are announced first, the focus immediately shifts to theContinue reading “Reading Scripture Like a Novel: Setting”

Reading Scripture Like a Novel

I remember when I first learned that Scripture was a meta narrative—that all the stories contained in the Bible worked together to tell a single larger story. It was a big shift in my thinking because, for a long time, many Scriptural narratives, poetry, or letters felt disconnected from other books of the Bible. MuchContinue reading “Reading Scripture Like a Novel”

The Ethics of the Image: 2. The Value of a Human Life

If you’ve been in church long enough, you’ve probably heard a sermon or discussion at some point about what constitutes the image of God in humans. Over time, arguments have been made that being made in the image of God refers to our creativity, our ability to reason, our ability to rule the animals, orContinue reading “The Ethics of the Image: 2. The Value of a Human Life”

The Ethics of the Image: 1. Imitate God

As I’ve argued recently, God holds an incredibly (and perhaps uncomfortably) high view of humanity. Like most any point of theology, being created in God’s image is not merely a doctrinal position we hold in our minds. Rather, it carries significant implications for the ethics by which we live our lives. Our theological beliefs areContinue reading “The Ethics of the Image: 1. Imitate God”

Humanity: Loathsome Insects, or Royal Family? Part 4 of 4

In Part 1, I made the argument that humans were made to be manifestations of God’s own divine presence, an idea I owe to Crispin Fletcher Louis (See “Excursus B” in his book, Jesus Monotheism). We were created to be the images (or “idols) of God, and in being so, the expectation is that whenContinue reading “Humanity: Loathsome Insects, or Royal Family? Part 4 of 4”

Humanity: Loathsome Insects, or Royal Family? Part 3 of 4

If Jonathan Edwards is wrong—as I am claiming—about God perpetually holding sinners in anger like “loathsome insects” “over the pit of hell,” then why does Scripture contain stories of God’s wrath burning, followed by fire from heaven (Num. 11:1), or intending to destroy the entire Israelite people (Ex. 32:10)? Don’t these stories prove Edwards’ point?Continue reading “Humanity: Loathsome Insects, or Royal Family? Part 3 of 4”

Humanity: Loathsome Insects, or Royal Family? Part 2 of 4

Is it true that God “abhors” sinners, as Jonathan Edwards claimed (see Part 1)? Is He really just holding us like worms over the “pit of hell,” perennially finding Himself in a state of anger over these “loathsome insects”? To find out God’s perspective on the matter (and if He is angry about it), let’sContinue reading “Humanity: Loathsome Insects, or Royal Family? Part 2 of 4”

Humanity: Loathsome Insects, or Royal Family? Part 1 of 4

In his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” the revivalist preacher Jonathan Edwards famously compared mankind to repulsive creatures in the hands of a repulsed God. The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, andContinue reading “Humanity: Loathsome Insects, or Royal Family? Part 1 of 4”