In his study of Papuans of the Trans-Fly, F.E. Williams remarked on the role of homosexual relations in the rites of initiation: “The bachelors had recourse to sodomy, a practice which was not reprobated but was actually a custom of the country – and a custom in the true sense, i.e., fully sanctioned my male society and universally practised. For a long time the existence of sodomy was successfully concealed from me, but latterly . . . it was admitted on... Read more
The parable of the sower teaches that some receive the word, have life, and grow, only to wither and die. Yet in other places the NT seems to indicate that those who ultimately die were never alive to begin with. Tares were sown by the evil one from the outset. How to put those together? There are various ways to work that out, but Revelation 3:1-2 offers some help. There Jesus says that the angel of Sardis is actually dead... Read more
In his Paul and the Torah, Lloyd Gaston argues that the Pauline phrase erga tou nomou, “works of the law,” is a subjective genitive. That is, it refers to what the law works, and specifically to what Torah works, not to the obedience that one may or may not render to the law. He cites Ernst Loymeyer’s opinion that “the only natural grammatical possibility” of the phrase is a “genetivus auctoris,” meaning “the works worked by the law.” Loymeyer can’t believe... Read more
Jesus evaluates and assesses the angels of the churches of Asian Minor (Revelation 2-3). On what basis? What does He know about them? Mainly, He knows their works (erga), as He repeatedly says: “I know your works” (2:2); “I know your works” (2:19); “I know your works” (3:1); “I know your works” (3:8); “I know your works” (3:15). Twice He mentions other things that He knows – what the angel at Smyrna suffers (2:9) and where the angel of Pergamum... Read more
Jesus evaluates and assesses the angels of the churches of Asian Minor (Revelation 2-3). On what basis? What does He know about them? Mainly, He knows their works (erga), as He repeatedly says: “I know your works” (2:2); “I know your works” (2:19); “I know your works” (3:1); “I know your works” (3:8); “I know your works” (3:15). Twice He mentions other things that He knows – what the angel at Smyrna suffers (2:9) and where the angel of Pergamum... Read more
Herodotus thought it a silly story: “how Herakles came to Egypt and was taken away by the Egyptians to be sacrificed to Zeus , with all due pomp and the sacrificial wreath upon his head; and how he quietly submitted until the moment came for the beginning of the actual ceremony at the altar, when he exerted his strength and killed them all” (Histories, 2.45). Obviously, anyone who repeats that story knows “nothing whatever about Egyptian character and custom.” Silly or no, it became a... Read more
Herodotus thought it a silly story: “how Herakles came to Egypt and was taken away by the Egyptians to be sacrificed to Zeus , with all due pomp and the sacrificial wreath upon his head; and how he quietly submitted until the moment came for the beginning of the actual ceremony at the altar, when he exerted his strength and killed them all” (Histories, 2.45). Obviously, anyone who repeats that story knows “nothing whatever about Egyptian character and custom.” Silly or no, it became a... Read more
Drawing from Pindar’s seventh Olympian Ode, Barbara Kowalzig (Singing for the Gods, 230-1) argues that the poem provides an etiology for the fireless sacrifice established for Athena at Rhodes. Why a sacrifice without fire, given that “as is nowhere clearer than in Aristophanes’ Birds, on the whole it is the fire that enables a city’s communication with the gods?” In fact, she argues, non-burnt animal sacrifice, not to mention votive gifts of fruit and craft products, were well-known in the... Read more
Drawing from Pindar’s seventh Olympian Ode, Barbara Kowalzig (Singing for the Gods, 230-1) argues that the poem provides an etiology for the fireless sacrifice established for Athena at Rhodes. Why a sacrifice without fire, given that “as is nowhere clearer than in Aristophanes’ Birds, on the whole it is the fire that enables a city’s communication with the gods?” In fact, she argues, non-burnt animal sacrifice, not to mention votive gifts of fruit and craft products, were well-known in the... Read more
Jamie Smith (Who’s Afraid of Relativism?) defends Richard Rorty against the charge that he leaves behind an antirealism that implies we cannot refer to the world, perhaps an antirealism that denies the existence of extra-linguistic things. In Smith’s summary, “realist critics confuse having a theory of reference and granting a kind of ontological weight to things. That is, they think that having a theory of reference is the necssary condition for affirming that there are extra-paradigm ‘things.’ So they assume... Read more
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