In his monograph on Aliens in Medieval Law, Keechang Kim notes that the distinction of citizen and “alien” replaced the earlier binary of “free” and “unfree” during the later middle ages. He cites John Fortescue’s De laudibus legum Anglie (c. 1468-70), which argued that “”Hard and unjust (crudelis), we must say, is the law which increases servitude and diminishes freedom, for which human nature always craves; for servitude was introduced by man on account of his own sin and folly, whereas… Read more

Yuri Slezkine opens his book, The Jewish Century (11-12),  with the arresting claim that “The Modern Age is the Jewish Age, and the twentieth century, in particular, is the Jewish Century. ” He makes good on the claim with brief glimpses of what makes modernity modern. Modernization is itself “about everyone becoming urban, mobile, literate, articulate, intellectually intricate, physically fastidious, and occupationally flexible. It is about learning how to cultivate people and symbols, not fields or herds. It is about pursuing wealth… Read more

Pierre-Simon Ballanche (1776-1847) is hardly a household name today, but he was a significant literary figure in 19th-century France. Albert Joseph George calls him a “precursor to romanticism,” and he was an eccentrically Christian advocate for social reforms of various kinds. In his Ville des expiations, unpublished in his lifetime, he laid out a vision for prison reform that rejected utilitarian defense of punishment. As George observes, Ballanche always had an affinity for victims: “He had never vaunted the executioner… Read more

We all know the story. Wise men come from the east, following a star to Jerusalem. They tell King Herod they’re looking for the “king of the Jews.” Like the rest of Jerusalem, Herod is troubled, not thrilled, by the news. To Herod, another king must be a rival for his throne. He knows how to handle rivals. Herod sends the magi to Bethlehem, David’s city and the birthplace of the Messiah. He tells them to report back, enlisting them… Read more

The Chronicler leaves out all the juicy stories of David’s career – some of his major battles, his youthful heroism, Saul’s persecution, adultery, murder, household disintegration. David isn’t perfect, but he’s cleaned up enough to join respectable company. Mark Thronveit asks whether the Chronicler is a “spin doctor.” He acknowledges that the Chronicler has his spin, but he doesn’t think his intent is to whitewash. Rather than depicting a sinless David, the Chronicler shows us a David who knows how… Read more

We live in an Age of Anger, writes Pankaj Mishra. He sees it everywhere: “wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, suicide bombings in Belgium, Xinjiang, Nigeria and Turkey, insurgencies from Yemen to Thailand, massacres in Paris, Tunisia, Florida, Dhaka and Nice. Conventional wars between states are dwarfed by those between terrorists and counter-terrorists, insurgents and counter-insurgents; and there are also economic, financial and cyber wars, wars over and through information, wars for control of the drug trade and migration,… Read more

George Monbiot notes the individualization of entertainment (Out of the Wreckage): “Television, while it tended to shut down conversation, at least was something that we watched, in the early days, together. Now we often watch is alone. We spend hours every day watching other people doing what we might otherwise be doing – dancing, singing, playing sport, even cooking” (62). In short, “television tells us . . . that life is somewhere other than where we are” (62). Celebrity culture… Read more

Keith Bodner examines the story of Elisha and the bears in his Elisha’s Profile in the Book of Kings (58-9). He observes that the boys’ insult “go up, you bald head” is ironic: “Elisha is mocked for his head, having just lost his head, Elijah (2:3). It is unclear whether those who taunt are aware of Elijah’s recent departure, but of course the reader appreciates the character differentiation: Elijah was well known because of ‘hair’ (2 Kings 1:8); now Elisha is identified… Read more

In a 2008 essay in Policy Review, PayPal founder Peter Thiel analyzes an “optimistic thought experiment” about globalization. The root idea is “apocalypse,” mostly of the secular variety. Thiel thinks that political actors and investors ignore the possibility of apocalypse, dangerously so. Along the way, Thiel traces the links between globalization and the boom-bust cycles of the past few centuries. Speculative bubbles inflate during times of globalist excitement; bubbles burst when globalization delivers less than it promised. In his own words: “For the last… Read more

Rene Girard (I Saw Satan Fall Like Lightning) quotes Colossians 2:14-15, and makes this observation: “The principal metaphor is triumph in the Roman sense, which is the reward that Rome bestowed on its victorious generals. Standing on his chariot, the victorious general made a solemn entrance into the city and received the acclamations of the crowd. The enemy leaders, in chains, were led along at the rear of the procession” (139). The display of enemies was essential: “Before the Romans… Read more

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