Epic poetry is often seen as characteristic of orally based cultures, but Jack Goody argues that epic more normally appears at the beginning of literate cultures rather than in purely oral cultures. Referring to the research of Parry and Lord on Yugoslav oral poets, he comments “Yugoslavia was by no means a purely oral culture, and its verbal forms were strongly influenced by the presence of writing, and especially of written religions . . . . (more…) Read more
1 John 3:17: Whoever has the world’s goods and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? John insists, as we’ve seen, that love must take specific, concrete form among believers. Love is not just fellow-feeling, or sympathy, or well-wishing. Well-wishing without action is faith without works, James says, and this kind of faith cannot save us. If we do not assist our brothers in need, the love... Read more
1 John 3:24: The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. John emphasizes throughout his letter that Christians must obey God’s commandments. In this, he only repeats what Jesus said. Jesus said, If you love Me, keep My commandments. That’s all that John is saying. He’s not saying at all that we earn our standing with God. He is simply saying that obedience is the Christian way of life. The way of obedience is also... Read more
Sacrifice is built into human life. It’s unavoidable. Even though we don’t slaughter animals in worship, sacrifice still happens every day. We either sacrifice other people, or we offer ourselves in sacrifice for them. That’s what John is saying when he contrasts Cain with Jesus. Cain “butchered” he brother, John says, using a word that occurs in sacrificial contexts in the Old Testament. Cain saw that his sins were evil, and his brother’s were righteous, and he killed Abel in... Read more
For a number of years, I have wanted a historical study of the decline of Trinitarian theology between the Reformation and the Enlightenment. James Buckley tells part of that story in his history of atheism, but his interests are broader. Philip Dixon has produced the book I’ve been looking for – or at least a big chunk of what I’ve been looking for, in his 2003 book Nice and Hot Disputes: The Doctrine of the Trinity in the Seventeenth Century... Read more
INTRODUCTION John emphasizes throughout his letter that Christians must love one another. Here, he emphasizes that this love must take form as Christlike self-giving and generosity. John’s “children” are to love “in deed and truth” (v. 17). THE TEXT “Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a... Read more
Challenging Cunningham’s suggestion, against Deleuze, that without some hierarchy of goods, there is no way to determine preferences, even for something as basic as diet, Kenneth Surin cited a bumper sticker: The top line says, “I love animals,” and the second “They’re delicious.” This, he claimed, was simply an expression of preference that didn’t require any sort of hierarchy. Cunningham responded by citing a (hopefully fictional) bumper sticker of his his own: Top line, “I love people,” and the second... Read more
The papers in the seminar on the recent Duke publication Theology and the Political: The New Debate were dense, difficult, and hard to follow. And then Graham Ward got up and said, essentially, that the whole point of Radical Orthodoxy was to start with Christ; all the philosophical apparatus arises as second-order reflection on what is revealed, particularly on the incarnation. Thus, the debate about ontology is not about analogy or participation per se, but about trying to formulate a... Read more
Chrisi Maier gave an interesting paper on the feminine conception of space in Lamentations. Jeremiah speaks of Jerusalem in turn as widow, as violated virgin, and as mother bereft of children. There is an intriguing asymmetry between these three images. The first two have an obvious literal referent: The city is violated because rapist enemy soldiers have broken through the walls, and the city’s children have really been deported. But the first image doesn’t have so obviously a “literal” referent:... Read more
Gabriella Gelardini of the University of Basel gave an excellent presentation on the structure of Hebrews, defending this basic chiasm: A. Elevation and Abasement of the Son, 1:1-2:18 (terminology: son, angels, abase) B. Faithlessness of fathers and sons, 3:1-6:20 C. New Covenant and the cult, 7:1-10:18 B’. Faith of sons and fathers, 10:19-12:3 A’. Abasement and elevation of sons, 12:4-13:25 (terminology: sons, angels, abase) Further, she described the following chiastic arrangement of key unique, or nearly unique terms: (more…) Read more
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