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Winter 2020 Concordia Theological Journal Vol. 7 Issue 1 ISSN 2374-3573 Concordia University Wisconsin/Ann Arbor is a Lutheran higher education community committed to helping students develop in mind, body, and spirit for service to Christ in the church and the world Theology and Philosophy Faculty CUW ........................................................................................... Roland Cap Ehlke PhD, University of Wisconsin- Jonathan Mumme Milwaukee ThD, University of Tubingen Thomas Feiertag Daniel Paavola DMin, Trinity Evangelical Divinity Chair of Department School PhD, Concordia Seminary Brian German Gregory P. Schulz PhD, Wycliffe College, Toronto DMin; PhD, Marquette University Nathan Jastram Steve Smith PhD, Harvard University STM, Concordia Seminary Jason Lane Jason Soenksen ThD, University of Hamburg PhD, Hebrew Union College and the University of Cincinnati Angus Menuge PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison Kurt Taylor DMin, Ashland Theological Seminary Aaron Moldenhauer PhD, Northwestern University Harald Tomesch ThD, Concordia Seminary Brian Mosemann STM, Concordia Seminary Kevin Voss DVM; PhD, St. Louis University Ronald Mudge PhD, Concordia Seminary Patrick Ferry PhD, University of Colorado, ex officio CUAA………………………………………………………………… Ryan Peterson Charles Schulz DMin, Trinity Evangelical STM, Concordia Seminary; MA, Washington University; MA, Stephen Parrish University of Virginia PhD, Wayne State Philip Penhallegon Theodore Hopkins PhD, Concordia Seminary PhD, Concordia Seminary Scott Yakimow PhD, University of Virginia Concordia Theological Journal editors: Scott Yakimow & Theodore J. Hopkins Publisher: Concordia University Wisconsin / Ann Arbor 4090 Geddes Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105 1 | P a g e CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL Table of Contents Introduction...................................................................................... 3 Editorial: “Doctrinal Narcissism and its Discontents” By Scott E. Yakimow........................................................................ 5 Articles “The Conversions of Adiabene and Edessa in Syriac Christianity and Judaism: The Relations of Jews and Christians in Northern Mesopotamia in Antiquity” By Michael Thomas......................................................................... 10 “Luther and Bonhoeffer on the Sermon on the Mount: Similar Tasks, Different Tools” By Theodore J. Hopkins.................................................................. 34 “Confession of a Lutheran University” By David W. Loy.............................................................................. 60 ”’Means ‘Collapse,’ not ‘Be Shaken מוט“ By Paul Puffe................................................................................... 77 Book Reviews Theological Hermeneutics and the Book of Numbers as Christian Scripture, by Richard S. Briggs Reviewed by Timothy Maschke....................................................... 94 Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics (4th ed.), by Scott B. Rae Reviewed by Kevin E. Voss.............................................................. 96 On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books, by Karen Swallow Prior Reviewed by Timothy Maschke........................................................ 98 It Takes a Church to Baptize: What the Bible Says About Infant Baptism, by Scot McKnight Reviewed by Timothy Maschke........................................................ 100 2 | P a g e Winter 2020 | Volume 7:1 Introduction We, the editors, are proud to offer the first issue of the seventh volume of CTJ in service of University and Church, especially our own Concordia University System and Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. The journal continues to receives generous financial support from the Bartling Endowment through Concordia University Wisconsin and Ann Arbor (CUWAA), for which we are grateful. As a reminder to our readers, CTJ is now in its second year of the reboot, which features the entire Concordia University System and is double- blind peer reviewed. In addition to the print journal, CTJ can be found online at our webpage (www.cuaa.edu/ctj) and is listed on ATLASerials™ with the full-text of each article available on ATLASerials Plus™. The purpose of CTJ is to provide space for interdisciplinary, academic conversation within the tradition of Confessional Lutheranism on matters affecting the church and Christian higher education. To this end, while we want to focus on academic offerings from the universities’ and colleges’ theology departments, we are open to interdisciplinary work as well that would include faculty in other academic departments at CUS schools, such as biology, anthropology, English, etc. Please see our website for instructions on how to submit articles for consideration. As in the previous volume, this issue is truly a joint venture of the Concordia University System. No theme unites these essays; rather, they are an eclectic mixture of theological disciplines, all featuring quality academic work on topics as diverse as the backgrounds of our faculty. In the first essay, former professor at Concordia University Portland, now President of Concordia University Irvine, Michael Thomas writes on the relations of Jews and Christians in Northern Mesopotamia during the first four centuries after Christ based on three ancient texts and each’s respective Sitz im Leben. Thomas’ insightful analysis of these texts gives a rare picture into Jewish- Christian relations in antiquity. In the second essay, Theodore Hopkins (Concordia University, Ann Arbor) offers an analysis of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship in relation to Martin Luther’s commentary on the Sermon on the Mount. Hopkins shows how differences in theological tools conceal a broader similarity of task, in condemning idolatrous works and constructing the Christian through the Word. In the third essay, David Loy (Concordia University, Irvine) explores the theological confession of Lutheran Universities. Although Christian Universities are tempted to put aside theology in favor of numbers, Loy shows the importance and even necessity of Lutheran Universities holding fast to their confession. In the final essay, Paul Puffe (Concordia University, Texas) dives into Hebrew grammar, as “be shaken” is mistaken, and מוט arguing that the common translation of the word is better translated as “collapse.” Even if you don’t know Hebrew, Puffe’s close reading of the Bible will help you read the texts in question and 3 | P a g e CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL see why the translation of a word matters in understanding the Christian life. Finally, a word about the cover art. This issue was originally put together at the beginning of January, 2020, and it was at that time that we decided to include a picture of Concordia University – Portland (CUP) on the cover due to the great support given to the journal by their theological faculty, both in terms of providing articles but also in helping with our process of blind peer review. However, as we were waiting for the journal to be printed, the closure of CUP at the end of April 2020 was announced. As editors, we decided to keep the cover as it is as tribute to the work that God has done on CUP’s campus for the last 115 years. Memory eternal. Soli Deo Gloria, Theodore J. Hopkins and Scott E. Yakimow (CUAA), editors 4 | P a g e Winter 2020 | Volume 7:1 Editorial: “Doctrinal Narcissism” and Its Discontents Editorials are strange beasts in terms of genre and perhaps can best be understood in modern parlance as that of a thoughtful blog post. In that light, I take as a beginning point an extended Facebook post by Nicholas Adams, Professor of Philosophical Theology at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, where he seeks to find an explanatory structure by which to analyze the recent and quite surprising Tory electoral landslide at the polls.1 In it, he introduces the term “moral narcissism” in order to describe the attitude adopted by those on the political left. Before directly describing what it is, however, he offers an oblique definition by way of analogy to a more easily accessible term, “logical narcissism.” Logical narcissism displays itself in the Cartesian “desire for definitions” that are clear, easily accessible, and without confusions or contradictions. It is found in the belief that “if one can clarify one’s terms and simplify one’s constructions… this will to a significant extent clear of the confusions [of the real world] and resolve the contradictions.” This, of course, has no significant relationship to the real world that is riddled with contradictions and confusion, but it does create a paper world that “is readily combustible.” It offers an ephemeral, peaceful, logical structure, and it is this structure that beguiles the thinker to the point that examining and refining the structure becomes the focus of his efforts while the real world is largely ignored. Rather than investigating the world “out there,” the logical narcissist continues to adjust and shade the structure into perfection, sitting back and contemplating it satisfyingly, thereby making it a subspecies of narcissism more generally. Having thus suggested that seeking clear and distinct definitions for real world phenomena is a narcissistic endeavor, Adams tentatively seeks to clarify the semantic field referenced by the term moral narcissism. He offers two different ways to look at it. First, there is the move to clearly define moral narcissism by its essence (a move a logical narcissist would take) where it is “your beliefs, not your actions, [that] constitute[] your person
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