The church fathers went to great lengths to prove that Moses was both more antique than Greek sages, and also to show that the Greek sages were dependent on Moses. While historically plausible, these efforts a form of Christian apologetics done within the confines of pagan thought. The assumption is that earlier is better, that the late-coming Jesus cannot be better than Plato, that the origin is always superior to the supplement and the cause greater than its effects. But... Read more
Cyril of Alexandria developed an intriguing conception of the Spirit as the “fragrance” of God. The Spirit is “a living and active fragrance from the substance of God, a fragrance that transmits to the creature that which comes from God and ensures participation in the substance which is above all substances.” This is both a Trinitarian point, and a soteriological one: by the indwelling Spirit we begin to give off the “aroma” of God. As we offer ourselves in living... Read more
Among the projects that Julian the Apostate took on was the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. This was intended to deflate Christian apologetics who pointed to the destruction of the temple as a sign of Judaism’s demise and Christianity’s ascendency, both divinely authorized. But there were also Christians who hoped for a restored temple. Writing on Zechariah, Jerome complained of the “Jews and Judaizing Christians” who hoped for the “building up of Jerusalem, and the pouring forth of waters... Read more
Scott is the romantic’s romantic, and yet his novels display the struggle against romance that is common in early novel-writing ( Don Quixote ; Northanger Abbey ). Edward Waverley , the “hero” of the first of Scott’s novels, goes through various adventures with the Jacobite rebellion led by Bonnie Prince Charlie, proposes to the powerful and beautiful romance heroine Flora Mac-Ivor, is kidnapped and imprisoned and rescues a British captain, but then ends up marrying the sweet and quiet Rose... Read more
Deepak Lal holds the James S. Coleman Professorship of International Development Studies at UCLA, and has produced a fascinating cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural study of the relation of culture and development, Unintended Consequences (Oxford, 1998). Many of his arguments are unpersuasive, but stimulating nonetheless. One of Lal’s main themes is to explain the differences between “the West and the Rest,” and he traces the difference to cultural and cosmological factors. These unique features of Western civilization, in turn, are traceable to... Read more
As I’ve thought more about the issues of comedy and tragedy, it has become clear that Christianity not only brings “deep comedy,” but also produces a deepening of tragic sensibility. In one sense, Christianity is utterly opposed to tragedy and its outlook: the religious world of much tragedy with its fickle gods or its irrevocable fate, is diametrically opposed to Christian faith; tragedy’s claim that death reigns is a contradiction of the gospel; Christianity tells the story of history as... Read more
In Ecclesiastes, Solomon repeatedly exhorts his readers to “eat, drink, and rejoice” as a response to the vaporousness of life” “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen, that it is from the hand of God” (2:24). “I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one?s lifetime; moreover, that every man who eats and... Read more
Ecclesiastes teaches that all is vapor, nothing but vapor. Trying to shape and control the world is, Solomon teaches us, like trying to scupt the mist (the image comes from Jim Jordan). Every ancient sage came to the same conclusion as Solomon. But for most ancient sages this realization led either to resignation (Stoic) or denial (Epicurean), to the alternatives that David Hart identifies as tragic melancholy and tragic joy. But frustration at the vaporousness of the world follows if... Read more
Malvolio, the steward of Olivia’s house in Twelfth Night , has been a problematic figure for many readers and critics. Charles Lamb, who with his wife wrote a book of narrative versions of the plays, saw Malvolio as a tragic figure: “Malvolio is not essentially ludicrous. He becomes comic by accident. He is cold, austere, repelling; but dignified, consistent, and, for what appears, rather of an over-stretched morality. Maris describes him as a sort of Puritan; and he might have... Read more
Malvolio, the steward of Olivia’s house in Twelfth Night , has been a problematic figure for many readers and critics. Charles Lamb, who with his wife wrote a book of narrative versions of the plays, saw Malvolio as a tragic figure: “Malvolio is not essentially ludicrous. He becomes comic by accident. He is cold, austere, repelling; but dignified, consistent, and, for what appears, rather of an over-stretched morality. Maris describes him as a sort of Puritan; and he might have... Read more
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