In his commentary on Romans, John Murray offers these comments on Paul’s statement that “sin is not imputed when there is no law”: This “enunciates a general principle on which Paul is insistent. ‘Where there is no law, neither is there transgression’ (4:15). Since sin is transgression of law, it is apparent that there can be no sin if there is no law. It is not consonant with Paul’s teaching nor with the Scripture in general to suppose that what... Read more
Keil and Delitzsch point out that Psalm 110 is structured as three sets of seven clauses. Each of these sets of seven consists of a “tetrastich together with a tristich.” These three sets are verses 1-2, verses 3-4, and verses 5-7. Verse 1 is the first tetrastich (Lord says; Sit; Until I make enemies; footstool for Your feet), followed by the tristich of verse 2 (Heb order: scepter of power; Yahweh will stretch from Zion; rule in midst). The second... Read more
There’s a remarkably huge story on Indian-born evangelist Dr. K. A. Paul, described as the world’s most popular evangelist, in the May 17 issue of The New Republic . The story is weird not only for its length ( TNR is not given to reporting on the latest evangelistic trends, much less devoting 4 1/2 pages to it) but also for its tone. Michelle Cottle apparently wants us to be amazed and appalled at Paul’s penchant for spending time with... Read more
Reviewing Edith Grossman’s recent translation of Don Quixote for the Weekly Standard , Algis Valiunas notes that Cervantes’ parody of chivalry contains within it some veiled assaults on Christianity: “in destroying the fancies of chivalric romance stories, Cervantes simultaneously mounts a sneak attack on Christianity itself, chipping subtly away at the faith based on yet another book ?EThe Book. Indeed, Don Quixote insists on the literal truth of the Bible with the same force that he insists on the literal... Read more
The Winter 2003-4 issue of Image includes an interview with Gil Baillie that includes this nugget: “I’ve been fascinated by John Paul II’s theology of the body, which I think is a tremendously important contribution to the retrieval of God. To me it’s also filled with a marvelous irony. The purported defenders of the body, its great champions from the sixties and seventies, have lately turned on it, emaciating and scarring and puncturing and poisoning it. It’s incredible to see... Read more
Also in the April 30 TLS is a review of Nathaniel Philbrick’s book on the South Seas expedition of 1838-1842, sponsored by the U.S. government and placed under the command of Charles Wilkes. It was one of the greatest sea expeditions ever launched: “six ships with a crew of 346 men would travel 87,000 miles, survey 280 Pacific islands, create 180 charts [some of which were still in use in World War II], map 800 miles of coastline in the... Read more
Also in the April 30 TLS is a review of Nathaniel Philbrick’s book on the South Seas expedition of 1838-1842, sponsored by the U.S. government and placed under the command of Charles Wilkes. It was one of the greatest sea expeditions ever launched: “six ships with a crew of 346 men would travel 87,000 miles, survey 280 Pacific islands, create 180 charts [some of which were still in use in World War II], map 800 miles of coastline in the... Read more
Two reviews in the April 30 edition of the TLS highlight the continuing influence of Romanticism. Colin Falck’s American and British Verse in the Twentieth Century characterizes romanticism as the effort “to build a spiritual work in the context of a religious dogma that has failed, and a scientific and mechanistic world-picture that has succeeded all too well,” and defined this way romanticim’s dilemmas are still ours. Interest in spirituality (inevitably, vaguely defined), in Eastern Religions, and so on indicates... Read more
In 1 Kings 2, Bathsheba goes to Solomon to present Adonijah’s request that he be given Abishag for his wife. This is tantamount, Solomon discerns (v 22), to a request for the throne, and yet Bathsheba relays the request. Why? Some have thought her naive or sentimentally maternal, but that portrait hardly fits with the shrewd woman of 1 Kings 1. In all likelihood, she relays the request in the full knowledge that Solomon will refuse it and act to... Read more
Here’s a proposal for an outline of Samuel and Kings, considered as a single book. Some of these parallels are more obvious than others, obviously, but there is a sufficient number of links to make the outline plausible. It might also be possible to discern some hints of the creation week in the structure (David anointed as king in the fourth slot; Absalom’s and Adonijah’s rebellions in the seventh slot; the temple in the center on the “eighth” day). 1.... Read more
Leithart
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In