James Jordan is “one of the most important Christian intellectuals of our day”, writes R.R. Reno in his forward to The Glory of Kings: A Festschrift in Honor of James B. Jordan (xiii). I haven’t read enough of Jordan’s own work nor have I read wide enough in general of modern Christian theologians/intellectuals to agree or disagree with Reno’s high opinion of him. Having read through this festschrift in honor of him though, I can at lest say that James Jordan is one of the most interesting Christians intellectuals of our day.
Jordan is a Reformed theologian based out of Niceville, Florida. He runs a think tank called Biblical Horizons, a ministry seeking reformation in the church and society through thoroughly Trinitarian thinking and an absolute commitment to scripture; Jordan and the men who surround him are not afraid of being labeled “Biblicists”. I say he is one of the most interesting theologians of our day partly because he combines things you just don’t often find combined: Reformed/covenant theology, postmillennialism, preterism, a strong emphasis on liturgy and sacraments, six-day creationism, theonomy (though not as exactly laid out by Bahnsen and Rushdoony), and a typological interpretation of scripture like you’ve never encountered. The list could go on things that you either never heard of, or never heard of combined that make up who Jordan is as a theologian. All this to say, James Jordan is, in Peter Leithart’s words, “unclassifiable” (xxi).
The festschrift is divided into four parts: 1.) Biblical studies, 2.) Liturgical theology, 3.) Theology, and 4.) Culture. It is important to note that the contributors to this book are not introducing and examining the work that Jordan has done in all these areas. To be sure, they are interacting with his work, but what they are doing is more taking some of his main and most important ideas and then applying and expanding them further (or in some cases, challenging Jordan’s own conclusions). I have no complaints about this, but I would just say that this makes it more of an indirect rather than direct introduction to Jordan’s work (not that it was put forward as being an introduction). It’s probably best to read a few of Jordan’s own works or at least some of his writing on the Biblical Horizons web site before jumping to this one.
My two favorite essays in the collection were Peter Leithart’s and Jeffrey Meyers’. Leithart wrote on the strange case of the missing father-daughter relationship in Leviticus 18. Leviticus 18 deals with the issue of incest, but it surprisingly leaves out father-daughter incest. There is a lot neat insight into the similarities between the sexual/marriage relationship between humans and man’s covenant relationship with Yahweh, and how sexual sin (breaking set boundaries between persons) is analogous to liturgical sin (breaking set boundaries between man and Yahweh). The lack of prohibition against father-daughter incest does not mean God approves it, far from it if you follow the logic of Leviticus 18. But it is absent for some purpose. That purpose, Leithart argues, is because in a sense God would be breaking that law. “…Yahweh is adoptive father and protective husband to Israel, father and lover, while Israel fills the dual role of daughter and bride” (73). This conundrum of how Yahweh can be both father and lover is answered, in James Jordan fashion, with the Trinity. “…Yahweh is both father and lover to Israel because Yahweh is Himself both father and son”.
Jeffrey Meyers’ essay addressed the place of the doctrine of election in the Reformed confessions of the 16th century, seeking to show the similarities and dissimilarities between how the Reformed and the Lutherans publically confessed this doctrine. He concludes, and I think justifiably, that there was no material difference. For those who are Reformed, and for those who are not, there were some good reminders that, at least in the confessions, the doctrine of election was not the central doctrine from which the rest of their system was deducted, election was not to be speculatively contemplated apart from contemplation of the gospel, and election really served as the foundation or support to sola gratia. The Reformed doctrine of election wrongly understood and over-centralized in one’s thinking is very dangerous, something I’ve struggled through and had to fight against in my own life. Understood rightly though, and connected to the gospel of grace, this doctrine leads to exceeding joy, comfort, and gratitude. Meyers’ essay was very helpful in moving me that direction.
A weaker essay, in my opinion, was Rich Bledsoe’s. He wrote on…well that’s the problem actually, he tried to write on too much in one essay and it didn’t seem to have a clear purpose. Ironically, one of the main ideas in his essay was how Christ is a “particular universal”, that is, Christ, who is one particular person, somehow contains in himself all human nature and personality; and in union with Christ, Bledsoe says, we becomes types of Christ, little particular universals. This may be true, but I feel his essay itself suffered from trying to be too universal, and so all the intriguing thoughts and ideas he put forward (and there were many!) were unconvincing because no particular one was focused in on and supported. It’s still worth reading though, especially for his comments at the end about our culture being a deglorified and unclean culture, and the important place the laws of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy have in addressing that problem.
One of the best features of the book was Jordan’s interaction at the end of each essay. Those, combined with Leithart’s short biography of him at the beginning of the book, allow the reader to know more than just Jordan as theologian, giving a glimpse of his personality and character, a glimpse that again justifies his unclassifiableness.
James Jordan writes a lot, and he writes on a lot of things. John Frame, in the afterword of this festschrift, writes, “He built large theological structures, one floor upon another, while I still remained in the entryway” (301). With somebody who writes that prolifically, you’re bound to disagree with some things he says, maybe even quite a bit. But it is also true, if you have an open and teachable attitude, that you will find much that is valuable and edifying in his work. This festschrift honors Jordan and all that God has done through him well, but I do recommend some familiarity with him before reading it. So if you’re just hearing his name for the first time, familiarize your self. http://www.biblicalhorizons.com/
NOTE: This book was provided free of charge in exchange for an honest review.
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