What does Yahweh mean when He introduces Himself to Moses as ‘ehyeh ʾăšer ‘ehyeh (Exodus 3)? Victor Hamilton (Exodus) notes that the traditional translation “I am who I am” is too constricting. Grammatically the phrase has multiple possible meanings: “The term ‘ehyeh is a first-person imperfect of the verb hāyâ (‘be’) and equals the English ‘I was,’ ‘I am,’ and ‘I will be.’ Plus, ‘WHO’ in ‘I AM WHO I AM’ may also mean ‘WHAT, THAT,’ thus adding to the possibilities.... Read more
Paul DeHart argues that Christianity, not the Enlightenment, gave us the separation of church and state. He cites Gelasius. He points out that Christianity challenged the near-universal institution of sacral kingship on Christological grounds. He of course alludes to Jesus’ statement about the things of God and the things of Caesar. The separation of church and state didn’t privatize religion. Thus: “Gelasius grounds the shattering of the ancient unity of government and sacred observances in the advent of the Messiah... Read more
Eric Laursen’s forthcoming The Duty to Stand Aside provides an intimate glimpse into British debates about Allied tactics during World War II. He focuses on the “wartime quarrel of George Orwell and Alex Comfort.” Orwell needs no introduce. Comfort is best known for his Joy of Sex, published long after the war. During the war, Comfort worked as a physician but we better known as a poet, a member of the “New Romantics” circle, and a vocal pacifist. Orwell and Comfort... Read more
The letter to the Hebrews is sometimes read as a brief for a cultless, liturgy-free Christianity. Barnabas Lindars (Theology of the Letter to the Hebrews) argues that, on the contrary, the letter is a defense of Christian cult. He provides an innovative sketch of the pastoral impetus behind the letter. In apostolic Christianity “nothing was said about post-baptismal sin. They simply assumed that they would remain in a state of grace until the parousia. But as time passed, some of... Read more
In Saving the Appearances, Owen Barfield describes the consciousness of early humanity as follows: “The human soul may be one of the ‘stopping-places’ for mana, but what differentiates the primitive mind from ours is, that it conceives itself to be only one of those stopping-places and not necessarily the most significant. The essence of original participation is that there stands behind the phenomena, and on the other side of them from me, a represented which is of the same nature... Read more
There is a glory of the sun, of the moon, and of the stars, Paul says. And star differs from star in glory. He’s talking about resurrection, but Joel Salatin (The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs) wants to apply the principle to every created thing: “Glory speaks to uniqueness; what makes God God, you you, and me me. And a pig a pig.” He wants us to see the glory of the pig: “Respecting the glory of each encourages a respect... Read more
Aristotle taught that women are defective men, with rational and moral capacities inferior to men. This is evident in generation, where the man provides the form, the fertilized seed, while the woman plays a passive role. It’s sometimes argued that Aristotle’s philosophy of femininity simply reflects his age, with its limited knowledge of the biology of reproduction. Sister Prudence Allen (The Concept of Woman, vol. 2) doesn’t allow Aristotle that out: “more than one philosopher prior to Aristotle offered the... Read more
Seven times in John’s Gospel, Jesus says “I am” with a predicate: 1)I am the bread of life, 6:35 2) I am the light of the world, 8:12 3) I am the door of the sheep, 10:7 4) I am the good shepherd, 10:14 5) I am the resurrection and the life, 11:25 6) I am the way, the truth, and the life, 14:6 7) I am the true vine, 15:1 Seven! And in John’s Gospel, the Gospel that begins... Read more
The following is taken, with minor adaptations, from the introduction to my commentary on the Johannine Epistles. The gospel goes to the Jew first. When they resist, Paul turns to the Gentiles, but he hopes by this to provoke the Jews to jealousy, so that in the end Jews will be saved along with Gentiles (Romans 9-11). In the New Testament, the gospel moves from Jew to Gentile and back (in hope) to Jew. The New Testament canon, arguably, does... Read more
In an essay exploring (in typical Marxian fashion) the cultural effects of late capitalism (specifically on architecture), Frederic Jameson tells a fascinating story about the Rockefeller Center, drawing on Robert Fitch’s The Assassination of New York. Fitch’s story is about the conspiracy to change New York City from a manufacturing town to a town full of offices and services. He has plenty of evidence to draw on, like this from a businessman of the 1920s: “Some of the poorest people... Read more
Leithart
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