Raising up a Faithful Priest: Community and Priesthood in Biblical Theology

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“It has been about a century since the appearance of the two magisterial studies that still provide the foundation for modern theological thought on the topic of priesthood: Wolf W. Baudissin, Die Geschichte des alttestamentlichen Priesterthums (Leipzig: Hirzel, 1889) and Albinus Van Hoonacker, Le sacerdoce levitique dans le loi et dans l’histoire des Hebreux (London: Williams & Norgate, 1899).¹ With the exception of some shorter treatments in periodicals and in the standard Old Testament theologies, scholarly literature in this century has focused almost entirely on the problems of historical reconstruction. The theology of priesthood in the Bible has taken a back seat to its history.” (Page ix)

“Second, Jesus’ priesthood is superior because it relates to a better covenant, the one promised by God in Jer. 31:31–34 and brought into being through Jesus’” (Page 147)

“Ritual thus provided a sort of homeostatic balance that kept the cosmos and society in harmony and wholeness.” (Page 36)