Author: Fr. Jeremy Davis

The Cup of God’s Wrath?

· Fr. Jeremy Davis 1 Leave a Comment on %s
“Did Jesus drink a cup of wrath?” This question was recently posed to me by a reader of my book Welcoming Gifts: Sacrifice in the Bible and Christian Life. The question arises from Jesus’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not as I will but as You will” (Matt. 26:39). According to proponents of the penal-substitution theory of atonement,…

“He Bore Our Sins”

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In the appendix of Welcoming Gifts, I argue that Penal-Substitution Atonement (also known as Substitutionary Atonement) is not plausible as an explanation of biblical sacrifice. This theory says that Christ saved us by taking upon Himself the punishment due our sins. It begins with the biblical teaching that the consequence of sin is death—not just physical death but spiritual and eternal death. It understands this consequence as a punishment owed for offending…

“Make Vows to the Lord”

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Making vows to the Lord was a common practice in the Old Testament. In the Bible, vow specifically means “conditional vow”—that is, a promise to make some offering to God if He would grant some specific request. These are distinguished from the kinds of vows we usually think of: unconditional promises like vows of matrimony or monastic vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, which would have been called “oaths” in biblical language.…

Sacrifice and War: The Expanse

· Fr. Jeremy Davis
Although far removed from the ancient reality of sacrifice, the modern idea of a soldier’s sacrifice for his or her country can be a beautiful testament to courage, self-denial, and love of others. However, like everything in this world, it can also be turned to darker purposes. In particular, the rhetoric of sacrifice can be used to glorify war and thus justify the gruesome cost of political decisions.  An example of this…

Sacrifice as Warning: Hawkeye

· Fr. Jeremy Davis
In the Marvel television series Hawkeye (a spinoff of the Avengers movies), a young woman named Kate Bishop is drawn by fate to meet her idol, Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye. As a child she had witnessed him repel an alien assault from the roof of a New York City skyscraper armed only with a bow and arrows (as improbable as that may sound). Since then, she trained to be like him, acquiring…

Sacrifice as Justification: Downton Abbey

· Fr. Jeremy Davis
The idea of sacrifice is put to many uses today. It is used to honor heroic soldiers, to motivate athletes, and to accuse those who have hurt us or don’t appreciate us. It is a means for assuaging our grief, making sense of tragic and senseless losses. As we will see in this post, it is also a way of consoling our consciences, providing justification for some harm we have caused or,…

Discussion Questions for Welcoming Gifts

· Fr. Jeremy Davis
In response to a request, I’ve put together some discussion questions for groups reading through my book Welcoming Gifts: Sacrifice in the Bible and Christian Life. Individuals reading the book might also find them helpful for reflection along the way. These are in addition to general questions like, “What did you find interesting or helpful in this chapter?” “What was confusing?” etc. Chapter 1: “Our Cloud Was Their Silver Lining” How have you used…

Sacrifice as Farcical Hospitality: Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

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As strange as it may sound, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa—a children’s movie—gives us one of the most authentic explanations of sacrifice in modern media. Stranger still, it comes from the mouth of King Julien, a demented lemur.  In this second installment of the franchise, the gang of zoo animals from the original Madagascar find themselves in an African wildlife preserve. During their stay, the local animal community is thrown into panic as…

Sacrifice as Consolation: The Expanse

· Fr. Jeremy Davis
The idea of sacrifice is often used today as a kind of consolation for loss, a way of giving meaning to something senseless and valorizing it. The recently released sixth season of The Expanse, a sci-fi series, provides us with an ironically down-to-earth and relatable example of this.  At the beginning of episode 4 (“Redoubt”), a family is grieving the tragic death of their young son, Xan, who was hit by a…

Sacrifice as Instructive Self-Harm: Avengers: Infinity War

· Fr. Jeremy Davis
Art sometimes reflects our fears back to us in such a way that we willingly face and emotionally grapple with anxieties that otherwise remain subconscious. And yes, I just called Avengers: Infinity War art. It’s not the Mona Lisa, but it does pull us out of our mundane day-by-day and force us to grapple with deep (dare I say, “spiritual”?) questions of meaning, existence, relationships, etc. You may call me a philistine,…