Jonathan Brown

Eccentric evangelical, pastor, archivist, MLIS student, avid bibliophile, lover of church history... and above all, servant of God through Jesus Christ.

[Jonathan Brown @RevJonathanB]

This past Sunday's sermon finally wrapped up our arc on the story of Babel. After 17.5 months, we're almost through the Primeval History!

https://t.co/akFQcC6jt6

[Jonathan Brown @RevJonathanB]

Particular thanks go out to @cwjones89 for his superb 2022 JBL article on this passage, one of the two post-1800 sources I had most occasion to cite for this message. It was invaluable.

[Jonathan Brown @RevJonathanB]

I'm not sure that yesterday's sermon quite came together as a cohesive message - part study of Genesis 10:8-12, part treatment of Christian political wisdom - but here it is, nevertheless:

https://t.co/flrIINQBgA

[Jonathan Brown @RevJonathanB]

Alright, it took me a while to edit it, but last Sunday's sermon was the first of several tackling the 'Tower of Babel' narrative (Genesis 11:1-9). There's a lot of mileage to be gotten out of it! (Especially with a side dish of Babylonian literature...)

https://t.co/vU78ffBbCo

[Jonathan Brown @RevJonathanB]

(I didn't get around to posting last Sunday's message, dealing with the infamous "curse of Canaan," but that one's here: https://t.co/ro7i1Wj5g9)

[Jonathan Brown @RevJonathanB]

In planning for a sermon on the Table of Nations (Genesis 10), I wasn't sure whether it'd be possible to get much out of it. In writing said sermon, apparently I was quite wrong! Check this out: https://t.co/9DxYYdKW67

[Jonathan Brown @RevJonathanB]

This past Sunday's sermon took a look at the curious incident of Ham in Noah's tent, plus Shem and Japheth's dignifying response. Lots of credit due here to Leon Kass's investigation of this passage.

https://t.co/3HpKXJcWE7

[Jonathan Brown @RevJonathanB]

And then this past Sunday, we attempted to let the narrative stimulate a consideration of the blessings and dangers of alcohol - a risky thing to do, in a denominational tradition that historically took an extremely hardline view on that topic!

https://t.co/Vx1F5DZqSg

[Jonathan Brown @RevJonathanB]

Once again I've fallen behind in posting sermons, but a few weeks ago we covered Genesis 9:1-7, the extremely packed institution of the rule of law for the new world.

https://t.co/esuL40svrl

[Jonathan Brown @RevJonathanB]

The following Sunday, the opening of the tale of Noah's vineyard offered us fodder for a briefer Communion meditation: https://t.co/QEieSi19YG

[Ryan N. Danker @RyanNDanker]

One can be baptized once, and only once.

[Jonathan Brown @RevJonathanB]

And we followed that up this past Sunday by looking at the repetitive but rich language used in Genesis for the framework of the Noahic covenant.

https://t.co/mE9PcS1l4p

[Jonathan Brown @RevJonathanB]

I haven't posted the last couple weeks of sermons here, but we started September by looking at the account of Noah's departure from the ark and his sacrifice to God thereafter.

https://t.co/5YW6PjVKfW

[Jonathan Brown @RevJonathanB]

(I did not realize there were so many *different* allegories of the birds of Genesis 8:6-12, but I found at least seven from the fourth through sixteenth centuries, and by golly if I didn't stuff 'em all in there...)

[Jonathan Brown @RevJonathanB]

Back from vacation, and back to preaching. This morning we reached Genesis 8:1-13, winding down the Flood and watching the birds.

https://t.co/o3nmRDMjWv

[Jonathan Brown @RevJonathanB]

Yesterday's sermon finally reached the flood of Noah, and while I enjoyed doing some comparative analysis of Genesis with Atrahasis and Gilgamesh here, reading the flood typologically (with everyone from the apostles onward) is really where it's at!

https://t.co/q4HTpBTRhR

[Jonathan Brown @RevJonathanB]

@goodreads The last book I bought a few days ago - and it's odd to me that I didn't get it over a decade ago when it came out - was @JonHaidt's "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion."

https://t.co/xaLMYw10T4

[Jonathan Brown @RevJonathanB]

"Never pass heedlessly by the contents of Sacred Scripture, but even if it's a list of names or an outline of history, let us descry carefully the treasure hidden there. For this reason, after all, Christ said: 'Search the Scriptures.'" - St. John Chrysostom (Hom. Gen. 24.1)

[Jonathan Brown @RevJonathanB]

Yesterday's sermon was a treatment of the faithful witness of Noah, the abundant patience of God, and the potential hardness of the human heart.

https://t.co/PviHM17u1Q

[Jonathan Brown @RevJonathanB]

And then today's message, on Genesis 6:13-22, looked at God's instructions to Noah to build the Ark (compared to parallel passages in many other flood stories), and the spiritual significance of the Ark and its detailed plans for Christianity today.

https://t.co/e7pdesFmzh

[Jonathan Brown @RevJonathanB]

I never got around last Sunday to posting my sermon on Genesis 6:5-12, a study of the mysterious dance of grace and virtue in one man's life in the midst of a world gone mad.

https://t.co/R5JQb7Xs9n