Holiness is separation, or so we are told. Let’s accept what we’re told. How then is God eternally and unchangeably holy? From what is He separated? If we say “the world,” then prior to the world’s existence God was potentially but not really holy. Of course, this can be resolved only in a Trinitarian frame: To say God is eternally holy is to say that there is eternal “distance” between the persons of the Trinity. The Father is holy in... Read more
John Alvis suggests that in Hamlet, Shakespeare alligns himself with Machiavelli at least to the extent that he sees Christianity (or certain forms of Christianity) as a comfort to tyrants. Christians, Machiavelli says, are unresistant to tyranny because they have been taught to wait for the justice of God, to endure evil patiently, and to seek reward in a heavenly kingdom. For Alvis, Hamlet fails to shoulder his responsibilities as prince – overthrowing the usurper the chief among them –... Read more
Despite the distracting use of the opposition of of “authenticity” and “responsibility,” Terry Eagleton has some thoughtful observations on the tragic dilemma in Hamlet ( Shakespeare and Society , 1967). Hamlet’s is a society of “reciprocal human definitions,” that is to say, a man’s identity is mirrored to him by society, and this social reflection of identity may be quite different from his own self-conception. What to do? Eagleton suggests there are three options: 1)accept the social definition, also but... Read more
Ephesians 4:15-16: Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. “The Eucharist makes the church.” That is a patristic and medieval axiom, and it is also a teaching... Read more
Hope is one of the traditional “theological virtues” – faith, hope and love. Hebrews 11 defines faith as hope, and for Paul “hope,” like Victor and Faith, is another name for Jesus (1 Timothy 1:1). In our sermon text, Paul encourages hope by saying God is able to do “exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or imagine, according to the power that works within us” (Ephesians 3:20). Hope is one of the marks that distinguishes believers from unbelievers. Those... Read more
There’s a slight false step, in the midst of a very helpful point, in Bruce Ellis Benson’s superb Graven Ideologies : He has been explaining the “double transcendence” of Platonism – metaphysical (Truth’s being is beyong the sensible world) and epistemological (human beings can get beyond the sensible world to have contact with truth and the world of ideas). He argues, rightly, that the epistemological transcendence cancels the metaphysical: “If I am able to transcend the boundaries of my world... Read more
In his Teaching Company tapes on Bach and the Baroque (recommended), Robert Greenberg suggests an historical sequence that accounts for the development of German music: Music for singing, which in the period was largely church music, must take account of the language in which the music is sung. German is punchy and sharp, with abrupt vowels – quite unlike the languid, liquid, langorous phrasings of the Romance language. In Germany, Protestant church composers composed for German singing rather than for... Read more
Is the “mystery of Christ” in Ephesians 3:4 a mystery about Christ or is Christ Himself the mystery? Let’s take the latter option – Christ Himself is the mystery (cf. Colossians 1:27). How does that connect with the way Paul unpacks the mystery in terms of Jew/Gentile union (v. 6)? Through 1 Corinthians 12:12: Christ is the body, the body is Christ; and the mystery is that Jews and Gentiles together make up the body that with the head is... Read more
NT Wright points out that the ascent and descent language in Ephesians 4:7-10 is reminiscent of Moses ascending Mount Sinai and then descending with the tablets of the Ten Commandments. Jesus ascends to heaven, and when He returns He does not bring the law of commandments on tablets of stone, but comes in/as the Spirit who writes on tablets of human hearts. We can put it another way too: Moses went up on the mountain, and came back with a... Read more
Macbeth hopes that his one act of regicide will stop the flow of time – “if ‘twere done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well it were done quickly.” But it can’t be done when it’s done; actions provoke reactions. He ends tragically because he cannot trammel up the consequence. Time is the avenger, simply by (indifferently) moving on. The same goes for Coriolanus, though in a different way. He wants his deeds to be their own reward, and thereby avoid... Read more
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