Chesterton is nothing if not an enthusiast, and he is nothing if not enthusiastic about Bottom the Weaver, one of the “mechanicals” of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. “It is difficult to approach critically so great a figure as that of Bottom the Weaver. He is greater and more mysterious than Hamlet, because the interest of such men as Bottom consists of a rich subconsciousness, and that of Hamlet in the comparatively superficial matter of a rich consciousness.” Our preference for... Read more
In her comparative study of Julian the Apostate and Gregory Nazianzus (Sons of Hellenism, Fathers of the Church), Susanna Elm devotes a long chapter to Gregory’s Oration 2, which is concerned with the philosopher’s practice of soul care. It is not an easy task: “As difficult as it may be for the physician to acquire and practice the medical science, his labors and skills pale in comparison with those required of the philosopher. Whereas physicians treat primarily the material, physical... Read more
In her contribution to Medieval Exegesis & Religious Difference, Nina Caputo analyzes Nahmanides’ interpretation of the sons of God/daughters of men passage in Genesis 6. The notion that the passage was about angelic intercourse with humans was already current, but Nahmanides rejected it. He wrote, “The correct interpretation in my eyes is that Adam and his wife were called benei ha-elohim because they were made by His hands and He was their father, and they had no other father besides him.... Read more
Ezekiel says that Yahweh deals with Judah so that Judah will know that He is Lord. When there are bodies scattered on the high places, then Israel will know that Yahweh is Lord (Ezekiel 6:13-14). When Judah is devastated and the Lord shows no pity, then Judah will know that Yahweh is Lord (Ezekiel 7). When the temple is in ruins, then Judah will know that Yahweh is Lord. How can this be? Yahweh told Solomon to build the temple.... Read more
Discontent is one of life’s most corrosive vices. When we wish we lived then, when we want our life to be taking place over there, we take no joy in what’s here and the now. We cannot enjoy the present without receiving it, and we cannot receive it well unless we receive it gratefully. In fact, without gratitude, we miss the present entirely. A young Master of the Universe hurriedly looks ahead to the deal that will make him his next... Read more
Patrick Clark’s Perfection in Death is a study of Thomas’s treatment of the virtue of courage, especially as expressed in martyrdom, against the background of ancient treatments of the same subject – from Homer to Socrates to Aristotle. He poses the dilemma on the first page: “If acts of virtue are, as Aristotle says, the sorts of acts that render an agent good in terms of the goodness befitting an agent’s particular nature, and if the sort of goodness befitting an... Read more
What does it mean to say God is jealous (Heb. qanna’)? In a recent JBL piece, Nissim Amzallag points out that it is intimately linked to Yahweh’s fieriness (cf. Psalm 79:5; Ezekiel 38:19) and to “furnace remelting.” If there is a hint of volcanic power in the Old Testament uses of the term, it remains that “the only gods specifically associated with volcanoes in antiquity are the gods of metallurgy” (240). The symbolic associations of remelting are powerfully evocative: “The... Read more
Tyler Atkinson uses Bonaventure and Luther as his primary interlocutors in his study of the “work ethic” of Ecclesiastes, Singing at the Winepress. The two giants offer quite divergent readings of the book. For Bonaventure, the vanity of the world encourages withdrawal; for Luther, though, the goal is to find rest within the oeconomia and politia. Drawing on the Augustinian distinction of use and enjoyment, “Luther reads Solomon’s ‘public sermon’ as radically calling one to find rest (quietus) in economic-political existence,... Read more
Stephen Turley ends The Ritualized Revelation of the Messianic Age by elaborating the point made in his title: “for early Pauline communities, rituals and beliefs were in fact irreducible to one another. As such, our ritual reading of Paul provides an exegetical corrective to the traditional relation posited between theology and early Christian rituals. Because rituals are inherently informative as well as formative, ritual washings and meals both expressed and generated dialectically the sanctity of early Christian beliefs, ideas, and... Read more
Aren Wilson-Wright examines the elements of “Northwest Semitic combat myth” in the theme verses of the Song of Songs (8:6b-7a). I have my doubts about the presence of the combat myth, but even within a strictly biblical frame, his observations illuminate the text. He points out, for instance, that 8:6b aims “to equate love with jealousy . . . one of YHWH’s more ferocious attributes, through strict parallelism” (339). Referring to Isaiah 42:13, Zephaniah 1:18, and other texts, he shows... Read more
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