Lee Harris has some fascinating comments on how the liberal West constructed the Islamic threat in his recent book, Civilization and Its Enemies . Harris points out that the early modern state developed in a kind of Darwinian political world, where only the powerful states could survive. A state was defined in terms of a centralized power that could fight off threats, and those states (such as Poland) that did not achieve this were parcelled out among those who did.... Read more
Freedman comments, “It may be pure coincidence that the Book of Genesis begins with the words beresit . . . elohim , ‘In the beginning, . . . God . . . ,’ while the book of Ezra-Nehemiah ends with the words elohay letoba , ‘ . . . my God for good.’ We need not point out that ‘good’ is the theme word of Genesis 1:1-2:3, and remains the leitmotif of the whole Hebrew Bible.” Or, maybe not pure... Read more
David Noel Freedman suggests in his book on the unity of the Hebrew Bible a reason for the repetition of the decree of Cyrus at the end of 2 Chron and the beginning of Ezra. He points to certain manuscripts in which Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah enclose the Writings: Chronicles at the beginning and Ezra-Nehemiah at the end. On this arrangement, the repetition of the decree of Cyrus in Ezra 1 is resumptive, and shows that the writings as a whole... Read more
Here’s another sermon outline, again shamelessly borrowing material from Jim Jordan ‘s From Bread to Wine . Priestly Service, 1 Kings 4:1-20 INTRODUCTION Priests are servants in a royal household. They live to serve their master, and they are regulated by detailed rules and regulations. The priestly stage of life is the first stage of maturity. THE TEXT ?Now King Solomon was king over all Israel. And these were his officials: Azariah the son of Zadok was the priest; Elihoreph... Read more
No doubt I’ve said this before, but perhaps not so clearly: 1) Derrida makes the point that all language is fundamentally metaphorical, and that even what appears as pure dialectic is rhetoric all the way down. 2) Derrida says that because of this communication and meaning are indeterminate, deferred, etc. 3) To the extent that #2 BOTHERS Derrida, he is still operating against a horizone of “pure” and transparent communication. That is, the first two points may simply be descriptions... Read more
No doubt I’ve said this before, but perhaps not so clearly: 1) Derrida makes the point that all language is fundamentally metaphorical, and that even what appears as pure dialectic is rhetoric all the way down. 2) Derrida says that because of this communication and meaning are indeterminate, deferred, etc. 3) To the extent that #2 BOTHERS Derrida, he is still operating against a horizone of “pure” and transparent communication. That is, the first two points may simply be descriptions... Read more
According to the etymological and historical study of Wilfred Cantwell Smith , “believe” once had the range of meaning of the Greek PISTEUO and the Latin CREDO, and meant basically to entrust or commit oneself to something, to pledge allegiance. As Smith says, this notion had changed significantly by the nineteenth century: “There was a time when ‘I believe’ as a ceremonial declaration of faith meant, and was heard as meaning: ‘Given the reality of God, as a fact of... Read more
Before Nabokov wrote his scandalous book , one Heinz von Lichberg had published an 18-page story about a middle-age man who falls in love with the daughter of the woman who runs the boarding house where he lives. He has sex, and in the end the girl dies, while the narrator remains alone forever. Here’s the kicker: the name of Lichberg’s nymphet was Lolita! Michael Maar tells the extraordinary story of this earlier Lolita in the April 2 issue of... Read more
A new edition of Daniel Defoe ‘s The Political History of the Devil (hitherto unknown to me) has recently been published, and receives a review in the April 2 issue of the TLS . The book covers not only Satan’s involvement in biblical history, but his continuing involvement in the political and religious events of Defoe’s own time. For Defoe, the devil is an enlightened character “advanc’d in all kinds of knowledge and arts” and “really very modern,” even “the... Read more
David Hawkes reviews a book on Literature and Economics in the Age of Milton in the April 2 TLS , and has this to say about the early modern suspicion of attempting to “do things with words”: “The influx into Renaissance Europe of precious metals from America, and the consequent inflations and debasements of the coinage, revealed that financial value was not somehow incarnated in gold bullion but was an autonomous, efficacious sign: a sign that could do things. This... Read more
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