Leithart
I reflect on Shakespeare and the Christian notion of tragedy over at the Colson Center site. Read more
I reflect on Shakespeare and the Christian notion of tragedy over at the Colson Center site. Read more
Jesus relished a good argument, and so did the Buddha. That is the premise of Michael Collender’s To End All Suffering. Collender relishes a good argument too, and he mounts one. He thinks that Buddhist-Christian dialogues ought to give way to something their founders’ would have recognized: Buddhist-Christian knock-downs. Charitable knock-downs, of course. Collender spends the first chunk of his book summarizing the teachings of the Buddha is a fairly dispassionate fashion. He focuses on Buddhism’s empiricist epistemology, its theory of... Read more
Jesus is the greater Jacob who rolls away a great stone to offer water to the world. Further reflections at the Trinity House site. Read more
Jesus is the greater Jacob who rolls away a great stone to offer water to the world. Further reflections at the Trinity House site. Read more
Jesus describes His death as His glorification/exaltation. Elevated on the cross, it’s as if Jesus had taken the throne to pass judgment on this world and to cast out the ruler of this world (John 12:31). John’s narrative prepares the way for this declaration. In chapter 11, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, in a preview of Jesus’ own resurrection, and at the beginning of chapter 12, Lazarus is sitting among those who share a meal in Bethany, as Jesus... Read more
Jesus describes His death as His glorification/exaltation. Elevated on the cross, it’s as if Jesus had taken the throne to pass judgment on this world and to cast out the ruler of this world (John 12:31). John’s narrative prepares the way for this declaration. In chapter 11, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, in a preview of Jesus’ own resurrection, and at the beginning of chapter 12, Lazarus is sitting among those who share a meal in Bethany, as Jesus... Read more
I’m always behind the trends, so I probably don’t have to worry. But if you are among the dozen or so people who haven’t yet seen HBO’s atmospheric True Detective, spoilers follow. The climactic struggle with the serial murderer takes place in a cavernous, horrifying graveyard of children, which has been decked out to resemble an infernal shrine to the “yellow king.” Both detectives are wounded, Matthew McConaughey’s Rustin Cohle with a knife to the side that draws a fountain of... Read more
Averil Cameron’s Byzantine Matters is not the popular introduction to Byzantium that it’s small page count (115 text) and pocket size might lead one to expect. It’s more a review of the literature on Byzantium, particularly from English-writing scholars, among whom Byzantium is still known mainly by its absence. Cameron examines the causes and consequences of that absence, asks whether “empire” or “commonwealth” serves as an adequate description of the Byzantine political system, ponders the “Hellenism” of Byzantium under the question... Read more
Ana Ruiz gives a detailed summary of the variety of sevens in ancient Egyptian religion and culture (The Spirit of Ancient Egypt ). There were seven major deities, seven astral powers, seven planets, seven metals (gold, silver, mercury, copper, iron, tin, lead) ruled by the planets. Spells used the number seven. The god Sekhmet was propiated by 7000 vessels of mandrake-laced beer. Ra had seven souls, and there were seven “Hathors,” musical sisters resembling the Greek Muses who also corresponded... Read more
Mummies don’t go to waste, Ana Ruiz tells us in The Spirit of Ancient Egypt : “By the 11th century, Egyptian mummies were being ground into powder and sold as Mummia Vera; this was marketed as an aphrodisiac and a medicine. The great Persian physician Avicenna prescribed Mummia for just about every illness. By the 16th century, Mummia Vera had become highly sought after and was sold in apothecaries throughout Europe well into the 17th century” (95-6). During the Civil War,... Read more
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