Revelation 12 is a symbolic vision of Jesus’ ascension, which we celebrate this Thursday, the fortieth day after Easter. In that vision, John sees a woman clothed with the sun and wearing a crown of stars, who gives birth to a child. At that same moment, a dragon appears and attacks the child. God snatches up the child to heaven where He rules the nations with a rod of iron. War in heaven follows, and the dragon is cast down.... Read more
Doug Wilson is carrying on a debate with polymath and militant atheist Christopher Hitchens at the Christianity Today web site, here: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/mayweb-only/119-12.0.html Read more
Michael Hattaway writes, in an introduction to Early Modern English literature (Blackwell, 2005), “A primary difference between Renaissance and modern concepts of writing involves meanings for ‘literature’ and for ‘fiction.’ As surviving library catalogues reveal, contemporaries of Donne and Shakespeare did not recognize the groupings that determine the display of books in modern bookshops and which split the curriculum in schools and universities between ‘creative’ writing and everything else. In the Renaissance, the modern category of ‘literature’ was yet to... Read more
Michael Hattaway writes, in an introduction to Early Modern English literature (Blackwell, 2005), “A primary difference between Renaissance and modern concepts of writing involves meanings for ‘literature’ and for ‘fiction.’ As surviving library catalogues reveal, contemporaries of Donne and Shakespeare did not recognize the groupings that determine the display of books in modern bookshops and which split the curriculum in schools and universities between ‘creative’ writing and everything else. In the Renaissance, the modern category of ‘literature’ was yet to... Read more
It’s significant that Jesus is said to “anoint” the blind man’s eyes with the clay-and-spittle (John 9:11). We wouldn’t normally think of clay as a promising material to “anoint” someone with, but this is the way that the man describes Jesus’ action. The word is often associated with the work of the Spirit, and so this strengthens the connection with John 3. The man receives water, and is anointed not with the Spirit but with clay. Elsewhere in John, however,... Read more
In John 9, Jesus makes an allusion to the creation story when He explains to His disciples the reasons for the blind man’s blindness. The man is not blind because of his own sin, or his parents’ sins, but instead so that the work of God might be displayed in Him. Jesus describes this work in terms of light and darkness, and tells the disciples that He is the “light of the world” as long as He is in the... Read more
The “Middle Ages only had thumb screws, not the media.” -Karl Kraus, early 20th century Viennese writer Read more
During the seventeenth century, the church grew rapidly in China. According to Chan Kei Thong, “In 1640, three decades after [Matteo] Ricci died, there were 60,000 to 70,000 Catholic converts; by 1651, their numbers had more than doubled to 150,000. By 1664, the figure had ballooned to at least 254,980. In 1642, fifty of the high-ranking ladies in the palaces were Christians, and when Prince Gui of the remnant Southern Ming Dynasty ascended the throne to continue the fight against... Read more
During the reign of Tang, the founder of the Shang Dynasty (1766 B.C.), China suffered a seven-year drought. Someone suggested that a human sacrifice was necessary. Chan Kei Thong tells the story: “Tang appointed a day for this to be done, and a great multitude gathered for the unprecedented event. To the amazement of all, the emperor, clad in rushes, presented himself as the sacrificial victim. Having fasted, cut his hair, and trimmed his nails, he arrived in a plain... Read more
In his fascinating Faith of Our Fathers , Chan Kei Thong points to many biblical images embedded in Chinese characters. His argument could be made even stronger by looking at Hebrew terminology. For instance, he says of the character “zui,” which means sin, that “The top part is . . . zi . . . depicting a nose to represent self.” Of course, Adam becomes a living soul when the Spirit breathes into his nose (Gen 2:7), and throughout the... Read more
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