Robert Pinsky, The Life of David . New York: Schocken, 2005. 209 pp. I was prepared to dislike Pinsky’s book, and the howler on the first page of the text was not encouraging (“David and the Witch of Endor”!?). My dislike deepened as the book progressed: Pinsky, a widely admired poet who teaches in Boston University’s creative writing program, plays source critic for a few pages, gossips inconclusively that Jonathan and David might have been homosexual lovers (thus missing the... Read more
Robert Pinsky, The Life of David . New York: Schocken, 2005. 209 pp. I was prepared to dislike Pinsky’s book, and the howler on the first page of the text was not encouraging (“David and the Witch of Endor”!?). My dislike deepened as the book progressed: Pinsky, a widely admired poet who teaches in Boston University’s creative writing program, plays source critic for a few pages, gossips inconclusively that Jonathan and David might have been homosexual lovers (thus missing the... Read more
Phillip Cary has a long, intriguing article in the Fall 2005 issue of Pro Ecclesia entitled “Why Luther is Not Quite Protestant.” Cary touches on soteriological issues, particularly justification, and the relation of soteriology to sacramental theology. Early in the article, he poses the opposition between Luther and “Protestantism” with two versions of the practical syllogism. Protestantism says: “Major Premise: Whoever believes in Christ is saved. Minor Premise: I believe in Christ. Conclusion: I am saved.” (more…) Read more
Near the end of a lengthy TLS review of a posthumously published series of interviews with Jacques Derrida ( Apprendre a vivre envin ), reviewer Ramona Fotiade quotes several intriguing selections from the interview. Derrida admits that life is “irreducible to what I say” and goes on to concede that “everything I oppose, so to speak, in my texts, everything that I deconstruct – presence, living, voice and so on – is exactly what I’m after in life. I love... Read more
A student suggests that Jonah 2:4 is at the center of a chiasm that goes from 1:17 to the end of chapter 2. In 2:4, Jonah says that he looks toward the temple of Yahweh, and the centrality of that statement supports the notion that Jonah-in-the-fish is a type of Israel-in-exile (within the belly of the Gentile sea monster). As Solomon instructed (1 Kings 8), Jonah looks toward the temple while in exile and is spat back out on dry... Read more
Ruth is redeemed by an Israelite savior, Boaz. But she meets an Israelite widow before she knows that there is an Israelite savior, and she comes to know the savior through her association with the widow. Typologically: The Gentiles pledge themselves to Israel, and through Israel come to know Israel’s savior (and of course Israel is saved through Gentile incorporation). Tropologically (perhaps): A child is pledged to the new Israel, the new bride who is no longer a widow, in... Read more
INTRODUCTION One of the earliest Christological controversies in the church was provoked by Nestorius, who denied that Mary was the “God-bearer” (Greek, theotokos). The controversy was not about Mary, but about the nature of Christ: Was the eternal Son of God born as a baby? Unbelievable as it was, the orthodox answered Yes. God didn’t merely become “man” or “flesh”; God became a baby. THE TEXT “And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from... Read more
Luther was famously hostile to the book of Esther. Luther was also famously enamoured of the idea of the Deus absconditus, the hidden God. These positions are inconsistent: No book of the Bible better narrates the power and providence of the hidden God than Esther, which refrains even from naming Him. Read more
Protestants, rightly, protest at a number of Roman Catholic claims about Mary. At times, Protestants distort and exaggerate Roman Catholic teachings. That is unfortunate, since the official Catholic teaching is objectionable enough by itself. And the errors of Marian doctrine reveal some of the underlying problems of Roman Catholic theology as a whole, revealing problems not only with regard to authority (Scripture v. tradition, the question of “Where do they get this?”), but with regard to the nature of salvation,... Read more
Luke 1:53: He has filled the hungry with good things. Luke’s gospel is a gospel of reversals. God chooses a humble young woman on the margins of Israel to be the mother of the Savior. While Augustus Caesar is reigning in Rome, Jesus is born on the outskirts of empire, in Bethlehem of Judea, laid in a manger, attended by shepherds from the surrounding hill country. Jesus comes proclaiming release to captives and redemption for those who are downtrodden. Through... Read more
Leithart
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