Falling Upwards, a history of ballooning by Richard Holmes, deals with an enchanting subject, and Holmes writes the history enchantingly. The story is populated by daredevils. Like Sophie Blanchard, who put on ballooning shows for Napoleon and after Napoleon fell, until her balloon caught fire on July 6, 1819 and plummeted to the roof of number 16, rue de Provence. A witness of the event wrote, “From my own windows I saw the ascent. For a few minutes the balloon... Read more
Conspiracy theories abound, on right and left. Some are loony or worse. But in their recent Modern Conspiracy, Emma Jane and Chris Fleming observe that “the act of conspiring . . . is not inherently noxious” (6). After all, “politics, business, and even family units would struggle to function in recognizable forms if they were deprived of the ability to conspire about election strategies, marketing campaigns, and birthday presents.” Some conspiracy theories are loony, but “the same cannot be said .... Read more
Ardel Caneday makes an illuminating contribution to Pauline studies in his contribution to The Faith of Jesus Christ. Caneday rightly insists that the contested phrase pistis Christou, “faith of Christ,” cannot be interpreted in isolation. Translators and exegetes who choose to take the phrase as a subjective genitive (e.g., “Christ’s faithfulness”) have to reckon with the consequences of this decision for understanding the rest of Paul’s work. One’s understanding of pistis Christou, for instance, inevitably affects the way the companion phrase... Read more
Hao Wu knows why people are blown away by Alibaba Founder and CEO Jack Ma. As an employee of the company, Hao Wu was awed from his first management meeting in 2007: “I heard founder and CEO Jack Ma say that Alibaba is a great company, not because it has the best product or technology (it doesn’t, Jack openly admitted), but the best culture and people. He spoke for more than an hour without any notes, and he charmed (‘You... Read more
Paul Helm has a remarkable article on the uses and limits of Confessions. He points to the work of Chad Van Dixhoorn, whose investigations into the Minutes and Papers of the Westminster Assembly have uncovered the pressures, personalities, and clashes behind the Westminster Confession. As Helm says, “In the nature of things confessions and creeds are forms of compromise draftings that attract a majority on a particular day.” This realism about the process of Confession-formation also highlights the distinction between the doctrinal agreements... Read more
Paul Helm has a remarkable article on the uses and limits of Confessions. He points to the work of Chad Van Dixhoorn, whose investigations into the Minutes and Papers of the Westminster Assembly have uncovered the pressures, personalities, and clashes behind the Westminster Confession. As Helm says, “In the nature of things confessions and creeds are forms of compromise draftings that attract a majority on a particular day.” This realism about the process of Confession-formation also highlights the distinction between the doctrinal agreements... Read more
Idolatry has deprived Israel of her senses. This was one of the early messages to Isaiah (Isaiah 6). Yahweh sent him out to a people who had been deprived of their senses because of their commitment to idols. They become like the idols they serve. They still have eyes, but they can’t see. They still have ears, but they can no longer hear. They still have mouths, but they can’t say anything. Within Judah, Yahweh begins to recreate a new... Read more
David is already failing as king before he takes Bathsheba. Instead of being on the field with his men, he’s lazing around back home. His men have taken vows to refrain from sex with their wives; David not only enjoys his own wives, but takes another man’s, one of the men who is out at the battle. After David’s adultery, his failures accumulate. He sends one of his mighty men to his death. He no longer fights to win the... Read more
David is already failing as king before he takes Bathsheba. Instead of being on the field with his men, he’s lazing around back home. His men have taken vows to refrain from sex with their wives; David not only enjoys his own wives, but takes another man’s, one of the men who is out at the battle. After David’s adultery, his failures accumulate. He sends one of his mighty men to his death. He no longer fights to win the... Read more
Have you ever been to a wedding where the heavens opened and a voice declared the couple “husband and wife”? Few of us have. Beautiful as they are, most marriages are quite mundane. Yet when Jesus talks about marriage, He describes it as something that God does: “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder” (Matthew 19:6). The voices heard at a wedding are human voices, but when it’s all over, God has created a new family. Baptism... Read more
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