This week Dr. Louis E. Newman of Carleton College in Minnesota  presented to our Christian Scriptures class a talk on “Sin, Repentance and Divine Forgiveness: A Jewish Approach.” He proposed that for Judaism sin is mostly considered as behavioral where many Christian traditions understand sin as an ontological problem. Many students were fascinated by his observation that in Judaism sin is analogous to disease, not death.  We had a great time for conversation but we did not have enough time to discuss his book Repentance: The Meaning & Practice of Teshuvah.

As we think about sacrifice I thought a picture of the four horned altar similar to the one found at Beersheva might be interesting for you to see.