John sees the glorified Jesus at the beginning of Revelation, and described his clothing and then his figure in some detail. Jesus commissions him to write. In chapter 10, a similar figure appears holding a book, and instructs John to eat then then to prophesy. Though the figure descending from heaven in chapter 10 is called a “strong angel” (v. 1), it is Jesus again, in the guise of the Angel of Yahweh. A comparison of the two descriptions makes... Read more
A recent report on research by the Federal Reserve of St Louis found that “Over the course of a 30-year career, mothers outperformed women without children at almost every stage of the game. In fact, mothers with at least two kids were the most productive of all.” The results were the same for both men and women. According to a Washington Post piece, the researchers found that “For men, fathers of one child and those without children performed similarly throughout much... Read more
Paul’s use of the notion of “flesh” has long been puzzling. He is no gnostic, but he seems to have a hostility to “flesh.” His condemnation is so strong that some translations have sidestepped the problem by glossing sarx (flesh) as “sinful nature.” It’s a bad translation, and bad theology. In his exegesis of Romans 7, Theodore Jennings (Outlaw Justice, 118-9) gives this superb analysis of Paul’s analysis of flesh. For starters, he notes what’s obvious in Paul: The law... Read more
When the sixth trumpet sounds, a voice commands the trumpet angel to let the four angels at the corners of the land go (Revelation 9:13-14). The following lines are a neatly parallel command-and-response. First the command: a. Loose b. the four angels c. who are bound d. at the river, the great Euphrates. Then the fulfillment of the command: a’. And were loosed b’. the four angels c’. who were prepared d’. for the hour and day and month and... Read more
In his contribution to Galatians and Christian Theology, Oliver O’Donovan explores the flesh-Spirit opposition in Paul’s theology. He observes that flesh is associated with the law and with the elements, and glosses: “A moral law with multiple demands enslaves us. That is the truth of polytheism, explored long ago by the great poets of Greek antiquity, by Homer and the Attic tragedians: a world at odds with itself, its perpetual strife fought out across the field of our human actions, leaving... Read more
The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). We hear that, and translate it into: “We do sinful acts; God punishes us with death; the ‘wage’ sin pays is death.” As Lloyd Gaston hints in Paul and the Torah, that doesn’t fit the way Paul uses the word “sin,” especially in Romans 5-6. There sin is Sin, a dominating power, a lord, with a host of slaves who have devoted the members of their body to his service. When they have... Read more
There are some problems in Theodore Jennings’s Outlaw Justice (note my comments here). But there are many, many insights in Jennings’s consistently political reading of Romans. On the Spirit’s intercession (135), for instance, he writes, that “the traditional translation, [the Spirit] ‘helps us,’ is, I think, flat wrong – the spirit is a sharer, a partaker in this very weakness of groaning, of yearning.” He longs along with us because “How do we know how to say what we hope for or... Read more
The account of the interactions between Elisha and the Shunammite woman (2 Kings 4) includes several episodes, but it is a unified narrative, arranged as a modified chiasm: A. Shunammite woman prepares an upper room for Elisha, 4:8-11. B. Elisha promises the woman a son, 4:12-17 (“Call this Shunammite,” v 12). C. The son dies, 4:18-21. D. The Shunammite’s husband fails to help, 4:22-23. E. The Shunammite finds and worships Elisha, 4:24-28. D’. Gehazi fails to help, 4:29-31. A’. Elisha... Read more
John sees two scenes in Revelation 9: A swarm of macabre cherubim arises from the abyss, and then four angels are permitted to release a massive army from the Euphrates. Both armies are described in some detail, and the organization of the descriptions are intricately structured. This post furthers some reflections posted earlier this week. First, we can note the structural parallels between John’s description of the “locorpions” and his sketch of the hippolions. Both descriptions begin and end by... Read more
The TLS review of Vladimir Nabokov’s letters to his wife during her stay in an asylum (Letters to Vera) has some stunning passages. Nabokov can’t keep himself from writing poetry, even in ephemeral letters (or, was he writing in anticipation of future publication?). He describes a “charming borzoi” who has “ash-blue specks on her forehead (like yesterday’s evening sky).” It’s sporting with “a russet dachshund . . . two long tender snouts prodding each other.” Here’s Nabokov taking a walk:... Read more
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