INTRODUCTION This passage is part of the opening preamble and prologue of Proverbs (Waltke’s terms). It divides neatly into two sections: The first, verses 1-7, describe the purpose of the Proverbs as a whole, and function as an introduction to the entire book; verses 8-19 are an opening “lecture” from a father to his son. THE PURPOSE OF PROVERBS The purpose of Proverbs is described in many different ways in these few opening verses. The Proverbs are for “knowledge,” “discernment,”... Read more
Tisa Wenger’s Religious Freedom recounts what her subtitle calls the “contested history of an American ideal,” focusing on the period between the Spanish-American War and World War II. She doesn’t look at the theorizing of religious freedom, or court decisions. Instead, she’s interested in the way religious freedom worked in public discourse – who appealed to it and to what ends. Religious freedom was one dimension of an “assemblage” of concepts, institutions and practices, and appeals to religious freedom implied the... Read more
Americans are losing their confidence in our institutions. Why? Christopher Hayes (Twilight of the Elites) doesn’t think we can blame the media, the Balkanization of information sources, or ingratitude from the public. The answer is simple: “We do not trust our institutions because they have shown themselves to be untrustworthy. The drumbeat of institutional failure echoes among the populace as skepticism. And given both the scope and the depth of this distrust, it’s clear that we’re in the midst of... Read more
Lenn Goodman (Creation and Evolution) cites Darwin’s son’s claim that “One of the greatest services rendered by my father to the study of Natural History is the revival of Teleology. The evolutionist studies the purpose or meaning of organs with the zeal of the older Teleologist, but with far wider and more coherent purpose” (138). Goodman finds parallels between Darwin on the one hand and Aristotle and Genesis on the other: “Clearly, evolution is no mere product of chance. It’s... Read more
It’s a little late, but you can save this for next year. Peter Burfeind (Gnostic America) quotes this Superbowl Sunday litany: “Minister: This is Superbowl Sunday, Lord. Millions will watch as the winner in each league battles for the championship and for a prized trophy. “Congregation: We thrill to the skill, the ability and the performance of many who will play today. “Minister: We thank you for the outstanding players in the life of your church – superstars like St.... Read more
John Gray (Liberalisms, 224-5) offers a devastating critique of Mill’s concept of individuality. For Mill, individuality is “a form of self-realization in which the powers of autonomous thought and choice that mark the human species are exercised in living a form of life in which the needs peculiar to each person’s nature are satisfied.” The key motifs here are self-realization, autonomy, choice, and the uniqueness of each individual. Each of us is to realize his own individuality in an “experiment... Read more
A fine statement from Iris Murdoch on the capacity of literature to seek and reveal truth: “I think that though they are so different, philosophy and literature are both truth-seeking and truth-revealing activities. They are cognitive activities, explanations. Literature, like other arts, involves exploration, classification, discrimination, organized vision. Of course good literature does not look like ‘analysis’ because what the imagination produces is sensuous, fused, reified, mysterious, ambiguous, particular. Art is cognition in another mode. Think how much thought, how... Read more
Gavin Hyman (A Short History of Atheism) doesn’t think contemporary atheists are aware of the origins and cultural conditions of their own unfaith. They suffer from “a lack of awareness of atheism’s own origins, of the historical, philosophical and cultural matrix out of which it emerged, of its own deep implication with the religion, or better, theism, against which it defines itself, of its own situatedness and cultural specificity” (xiv). Specifically, they aren’t aware that their unbelief is a peculiarly... Read more
In Literacy and Orality in Ancient Greece, Rosalind Thomas surveys the current state of Homeric studies. In the background is the Millman-Lord thesis that the epics are the product of oral improvisation. Thomas discerns two schools: “On the one hand, the formulaic theory of Parry and Lord is being refined and extended to other oral poetry (based mainly in America, this trend in scholarship amounts to a school of thought adhering to ‘the oral theory of composition’); formulae and themes... Read more
Thomas Schirrmacher (God Want You to Learn, Labor, and Love) outlines a Trinitarian conception of labor. Work, like all human activity, has its uncreated origin in God. We are able to work because we are made in the image of a God of labor: “In the Bible, man’s work has a high value, because it reflects a God who is working Himself. The triune God had been working prior to men’s existence in Creation. Because He is triune, He even... Read more
Leithart
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