Exhortation for October 5: Luke’s account of the Transfiguration is one of the densest passages in the entire New Testament. In context, it is a preview of the glory the Son of Man will display when He comes in His kingdom. It is a sign of Jesus’ messianic glory, a foretaste of the glory of Jesus’ resurrection, of His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and of the glory He displays in the destruction of apostate Jerusalem in... Read more
Eucharistic meditation for October 5: We have seen Jesus at meals on several occasions in Luke’s gospel, and each time the meal has been an occasion for instruction about the kingdom of God. When Jesus went to Levi’s house, He was demonstrating by His meal practice that He is the Great Physician come to heal the sick. At Simon’s house, He held up a sinful woman as an example of true devotion and discipleship. Here, for the first time, Jesus... Read more
Some very good material in Kenneth Bailey’s discussion of the end of Luke 9 (in Through Peasant Eyes ). Bailey is especially illuminating on the first of Jesus’ encounters with the reluctant disciples. This man volunteers to follow Jesus, but Jesus alerts him that the cost will be great. Jesus is leaving for Jerusalem, and though He has received some hospitality in Galilee and offered hospitality on a massive scale, He will be (in David Moessner’s words) the journeying guest... Read more
Luke 9 is largely about the final stages of the training of the Twelve before Jesus moves from Galilee to Jerusalem. Part of their training comes in the story of the feeding of the five thousand. Eugene LaVerdiere’s treatment of this incident in Dining in the Kingdom of God highlights a number of features of this incident in Luke. First, this incident occurs shortly after the disciples have returned from their missionary journey. They have relied on the hospitality of... Read more
Well, there’s a problem with speaking well of a book before reading far enough in it. I’m still learning a lot from Stephen Schwartz’s Two Faces of Islam , but fairly early in the book he makes it clear that he’s working with the view that at least all “Abrahamic faiths” can work together for the betterment of mankind. His hope is that “Islam may . . . fulfill its destiny as a positive force for all humanity.” So, my... Read more
Scott Hahn’s First Comes Love is, overall, a very fine book. It is a Trinitarian treatment of biblical theology that focuses on sacrificial self-giving as the mode of divine life that is to be replicated in the life of the church and to transform family life. “Family” is the dominant idea, encompassing the divine Trinitarian family, nuclear and extended human families, and the church. Within this overall theme, Hahn makes a number of intriguing specific points: 1) He sets things... Read more
I have been reading Stephen Schwartz’s wonderful pieces on Islam in the Weekly Standard for several years. Schwartz has done as much as any journalist to highlight the responsibility and role of Saudi Arabia for the rise of radical Islam, and particularly the central importance of the Wahhabi sect in modern Islam. I have been eager to dig into his recent The Two Faces of Islam: The House of Sa’ud from Tradition to Terror . It is even better than... Read more
Jonathan Chait begins an article on “Bush hatred” ( TNR ) with the kind of rant that journalists are supposed to keep to themselves. He hates Bush’s policies, but he also hates the way Bush walks, the way he talks, the look on his face, and every thing else about Bush. This is, shall we say, a bit odd at the beginning of an article about the “rationality” of Bush hatred. David Brooks said months ago that Democrats have lost... Read more
From the radio reports I hear, it seems that Arnold’s campaign is an extension of his movie career. At one stop, he unveils a bus bearing his mug, and buses for the press labeled “Predators.” At another stop, he talks about taxes, and says that in the movies he destroys things he doesn’t like. Then he has a wrecking ball crush a “Gray Davis Tax Car.” Theatrical grandstanding has a long history in American politics, and the entertainment-political complex came... Read more
From the radio reports I hear, it seems that Arnold’s campaign is an extension of his movie career. At one stop, he unveils a bus bearing his mug, and buses for the press labeled “Predators.” At another stop, he talks about taxes, and says that in the movies he destroys things he doesn’t like. Then he has a wrecking ball crush a “Gray Davis Tax Car.” Theatrical grandstanding has a long history in American politics, and the entertainment-political complex came... Read more
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