Here is a story written by my son, Christian, age 14. Tramps, as you probably well know, are usually not very likable creatures. I say “creatures” because I, myself, have often been in doubt as to the species ?Eor gender ?Eof most tramps that I meet. Tramps, like trolls, eggs, and Picasso’s paintings, can be bad. If you have parents, they have most certainly told you not to speak with strangers ?EI don’t count. I am talking to you from... Read more
Acts 2:23 is often cited as a central text in understanding the doctrine of foreordination; it is seen as demonstrating in a particularly explicit way the compatibility of foreordination and human responsibility. God predetermined the cross, and yet those who put Jesus to death are “wicked.” A marginal note in my NASB suggests an alternative understanding. The “godless men” at the end of the verse refers not to the Jews’ godlessness but to “men without the law” (the Greek is... Read more
An Eternal Kingdom, 1 Kings 16:8-34 INTRODUCTION Reading 1-2 Kings from beginning to end might give the impression that the book is about the unfaithfulness of Israel. It tells the story of Solomon?s rise and fall, the division of the kingdom, the deterioration of Israel and Judah, and the beginning of the Babylonian exile. It answers the question, Why was Israel sent into exile? and answers, Because Israel worshiped idols and refused to listen to the prophets. If we start... Read more
Alessandro Baricco, Without Blood . Translated from Italian by Ann Goldstein. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. 97 pages. Without Blood , Alessandro Baricco’s fifth book, begins in horror. Four-year-old Nina Roca hides beneath a trap door in an old farmhouse listening as several men murder her father and brother. Before the men leave, one, Tito, opens the trap door and finds her, but does not tell his comrades, one of whom sets fire to the house. Miraculously, Nina escapes... Read more
Donald A. Norman, Emotional Design: Why we love (or hate) everyday things (Basic Books, 2004), 257 pp. When Israeli scientist Noam Tractinsky first heard of studies in Japan that ATM machines with an attractive arrangement of buttons were perceived as functioning better than machines with an unattractive arrangement, he was skeptical. So Tractinsky designed his own experiments, and found that he practically-minded Israelis also claimed that aesthetic appeal made machines and tools more functional. In Emotional Design , Donald Norman,... Read more
Psalm 107:22 We saw in the sermon that song accompanies the ascension offering in the worship of the tabernacle. A sacrifice of praise is a means of ascent to God, calling on Him to draw near in glory and responding to His glory as He draws near. Through song, our worship becomes a point of intersection of heaven and earth. But in Scripture, music is not only associated with the ascension, but with the peace offering and thank offering. Thank... Read more
God created a world with three environments. At the center of the world was a garden, the sanctuary where Adam and Eve were to worship their Creator. Surrounding the sanctuary was the land of Eden, and outside the land of Eden were other lands like Havilah, Cush, and Assyria. We live our lives in these three environments: in the sanctuary where we worship, in the home land where we rest with our families, in the outlying world where we work.... Read more
Luke 14:21-24 The parable of the wedding feast is a parable about the kingdom, where the kingdom is envisioned, as it often is in Jesus?Eteaching, as a dinner, a banquet, a wedding feast. The key point in this particular parable is about who is invited to the wedding feast. First the man?s social peers are invited, and when they refuse the man sends his servant to gather in the lame, the blind, the crippled, the poor, to fill the empty... Read more
INTRODUCTION Antony and Cleopatra is set in the 30s BC, during the period of the Second Triumvirate, which consisted of Antony, Octavius Caesar, and Lepidus. It is a story of middle-aged infatuation between the title characters, carried out in the context of a political struggle between Antony and Octavius for supremacy in the Mediterranean world. Unlike Shakespeare?s other romantic plays, the title characters are mature adults with adult responsibilities. The middle agedness of the main characters matches the aging character... Read more
One Thomas Merriam has a very intriguing article on “Parallel Ironies: Henry VIII (All Is True) and Antony and Cleopatra ” (available in full on his web site ). He argues that the clown’s words to Cleopatra in Act 5 of Shakespeare’s play provide theological commentary on the action. Here are some excerpts: “It was Shakespeare’s habit to cloak his authentic expressions in the ironic word-play of Erasmian fools and clowns. The list of Shakespeare’s nonsensical truth-sayers might include the... Read more
Leithart
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