“Come out from her!” says a heavenly voice to the saints (Revelation 18). Come out from Babylon, the harlot city, the doomed city. Commentators hasten to spiritualize: The command doesn’t require a change of place but only a metaphorical exodus, an exodus of the heart. It’s a flight from pagan culture, not from one location to another. There’s a point to this, of course. You can leave Babylon and take Babylon with you. You can flee Babylon and remain a... Read more
Mark Garnett (The Snake that Swallowed Its Tail) identifies four core beliefs of liberalism: “that the individual ought to be treated as prior to society; that human beings are capable of rational decision-making; that rational people are worthy of equal respect; and that freedom is the best guarantee of individual fulfillment” (15). Within this consensus, though, there are divergent tendencies, and Garnett summarizes Isaiah Berlin’s famous attempt to identify these under the heading of “positive” and “negative” liberty. In Garnett’s... Read more
D. Stephen Long (The Perfectly Simple Triune God) claims that the doctrine of divine simplicity is designed to answer a question of Trinitarian theology, specifically, “How do we speak well of the mystery of the Holy Trinity?” Simplicity has been used to answer other questions: “What can be known of God by reason independent of faith or nature independent of grace?” and “How does God predestine all things to God’s own glory?” Those questions displace simplicity from its proper locus... Read more
In a contribution to Apocalypses in Context, Christopher Hays recounts the rise of apocalyptic writing during the Hellenistic period. He briefly discusses the historical context for the book of Daniel, a book that, he says, leaves “a series of ‘clues’” indicating that it was not written in the time period of the action recorded: “the book was composed later than the time period in which it is set literarily—and in the case of the visions, much later.” Hays enumerates several... Read more
Nathan MacDonald (Not Bread Alone, 176–7) has a fascinating chapter on the role of food in the establishment of Israel’s monarchy. In part, this has to do with agricultural policy, but it also has an anthropological dimension: Feasts form a circle around the crowned king, and who’s in and out of the feast is a signal of who’s in and out of royal favor. When Nebuchadnezzar invades and destroys Jerusalem, the Davidic dynasty ceases to exist. But in 1-2 Kings,... Read more
Diarmaid MacCulloch starts his study of the Reformation, All Things Made New, with a sketch of the medieval world. It’s a bit rosy, emphasizing the unity of medieval Europe: “The most noticeable characteristic of Western Europe in what we call the Middle Ages was its cultural and religious unity – unity through a common alignment with the Pope in Rome, and a common language for worship and scholarship, Latin. Western Europeans who know anything about their history tend to take... Read more
Note #1: Act 1, scene 2 of King Lear, which initiates Edmund’s plots against father Gloucester and brother Edgar, is structured chiastically: A. Edmund’s first soliloquy. B. Edmund with Gloucester, accusing Edgar. C. Edmund’s second soliloquy. B’. Edmund with Edgar, sowing suspicion that Gloucester is suspicious of Edgar. A’. Edmund’s third soliloquy. The structure beautifully reinforces the substance. Edmund is present throughout, the single continuity of the scene. Edmund surrounds the scene, just as his plot encircles Gloucester and Edgar... Read more
Alexander Leggatt (King Lear) captures the oddity of King Lear by calling attention to the blunt physicality of the play: “The tortured body is a recurring image. . . . According to J.I.M. Stewart, ‘The blinding of Gloucester represents a sort of crystallizing of this element of physical outrage which the imagery holds so massively in suspension throughout the play.’ What was only talked about is now seen. But even a reader can feel the physical horror of the scene... Read more
In an editorial introduction to King Lear, GK Hunter observes that the play depicts three forms of madness. First, “The Fool has a quality of savage innocence that the other two lack. . . . His stock consists in the main of songs and riddles, nonsense-rhymes and a mock prophecy. These he deploys as oblique and self-protective comments on the real world. . . . He is a living manifestation of that world of irony and metaphor in which every... Read more
“Scott Alexander” (a pseudonym) applies some common sense the media characterization of Trump as an “openly racist” candidate dedicated to courting the KKK. He estimates, for instance, that there are 3-5000 Klansman in the US. Over the course of the campaign, he estimates that at least 14,000 articles were published on Trump’s relationship to the Klan, which is non-existent. Which means there are “two to three articles about a Trump-KKK connection for every single Klansman in the world.” “Alexander” doesn’t... Read more
Select your answer to see how you score.
Leithart
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In