At several points in Galatians, Paul distinguishes between the Abrahamic promise and the Mosaic Torah. He charges that his opponents want to return to the obsolete Mosaic system by forcing circumcision on Gentiles. Problem is, circumcision was given to Abraham, not Moses. It seems to be a sign of the promise, not an imposition of the law. Surely Paul knows this. So why does he set things up the way he does? Doesn’t he leave himself open to the counter-argument... Read more
Another installment of my review of Naphtali Meshel’s The “Grammar” of Sacrifice at the Trinity House site. Read more
Another installment of my review of Naphtali Meshel’s The “Grammar” of Sacrifice at the Trinity House site. Read more
Some excerpts from Ivor Davidson’s fine introduction to God of Salvation. Davidson stresses the intrusive character of the gospel’s God. The story is “profoundly startling, disruptive of natural hypotheses about the conceivable relationship of divinity and finitude, shattering to instinctive assumptions that creaturely life must be immune from personal invasion of such a kind by any being supposed to be the originating agent and sustaining rationale of the cosmos. The story is radical in its sheer intrusiveness, in its unqualified censure... Read more
Questions about the “necessity” of atonement are usually framed in terms of the character of God and the nature of sinful humanity. Given these two factors, could God have followed any other path than the cross? Augustine and Aquinas said Yes, Anselm said No. But God and sinful humanity aren’t the only factors. The cross is preceded by a long history of God-with-Israel, and that history includes institutions of sacrifice, access and exclusion, substitution, etc. So the question is: Given... Read more
Questions about the “necessity” of atonement are usually framed in terms of the character of God and the nature of sinful humanity. Given these two factors, could God have followed any other path than the cross? Augustine and Aquinas said Yes, Anselm said No. But God and sinful humanity aren’t the only factors. The cross is preceded by a long history of God-with-Israel, and that history includes institutions of sacrifice, access and exclusion, substitution, etc. So the question is: Given... Read more
Kathleen Rooney says that poets write animal poetry for two reasons: “one is because animals provide a metaphorical window into the human world from a surprising vantage. Another is because of their very inhumanness and potential sublimity. A successful animal poem makes use of both, weighing those two impulses against each other, suspending an answer to the question: can we see ourselves in nature, or not?” Fable poems that draw lessons from observation of animals risk becoming sentimental, “insufferable and glib.”... Read more
At Bloomberg, Glen Carey observes that “The Middle East may be sliding toward a warlord era, with nation-states increasingly struggling to control all their territory and millions living under the rule of emergent local chiefs and movements.” He quotes Chatham House fellow Nadim Shehadi’s claim that “It is almost like the whole regional order that was built in the 20th century is collapsing. Non-state actors are filling the vacuum.” ISIS has grabbed most of the headlines, but it’s not the only “non-state”... Read more
After Windsor, I predicted we would see the rise of “Good Republicans” who backed away from social issues, and from defending marriage in particular. The Good Republican Watch continues apace. The New York Times reported earlier this week on the “tidal” shift in the culture wars. Republicans are on the defensive, Democrats aggressive. Democrats want to talk social issues; Republicans cannot squirm away soon enough. “Increasingly assured that public opinion supports their positions, Democrats have become more aggressive in challenging Republicans... Read more
Adonis Vidu (Atonement, Law, and Justice) argues that “What simplicity, or the perfection of divine agency, helps us to understand, however, is that the most basic unit of divine action in history is not the ‘discrete’ actions (teaching, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension), but the whole mission of God in the world. As Holmes has said: God does one thing, and that is to be himself.” This raises questions about coherence of Vidu’s atonement theology, in two respects. First, he earlier questions the viability... Read more
Leithart
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