John hears a voice behind him and turns to see the voice. First he sees lampstands (Revelation 1:10, 12). Austin Farrer (The Revelation of St. John Divine, 65) points out that the turning and the lampstands come from Zechariah 4:1-2. He explains, “Zechariah’s vision was familiar to Israelites as a prophetic lesson for the Feast of Lamps, Dedication, the Jewish Christmas; and familiar to Christians as occurring in a series of visions which give a messianic significance to the High... Read more
Fans exert more influence on popular culture than ever before, or so it seems. Katherine Larsen and Lynn Zubernis, authors of Fangasm, aren’t buying it. Drawing on their work Devon Maloney observes that “creating a relationship in which producers give fans what they think they want—has become a massive, incredibly lucrative business.” “‘It’s profitable for [the producers], which is why things like Comic-Con have gotten out of hand,’ says Larsen. ‘It’s become this big selling festival of consumerism: Come buy our products,... Read more
Fans exert more influence on popular culture than ever before, or so it seems. Katherine Larsen and Lynn Zubernis, authors of Fangasm, aren’t buying it. Drawing on their work Devon Maloney observes that “creating a relationship in which producers give fans what they think they want—has become a massive, incredibly lucrative business.” “‘It’s profitable for [the producers], which is why things like Comic-Con have gotten out of hand,’ says Larsen. ‘It’s become this big selling festival of consumerism: Come buy our products,... Read more
We live in a world of novelty. Newness has never been more new, and, like the mercies of God, the new is new every morning. But a strange thing has happened on the way to a world of the never-new now. Along the way we’ve made the past more accessible than ever. The “past is no longer a foreign country,” writes Paul Ford. He elaborates: “Take the Kennedy assassination, for instance. In honor of the event’s 50th anniversary last November, CBS... Read more
We live in a world of novelty. Newness has never been more new, and, like the mercies of God, the new is new every morning. But a strange thing has happened on the way to a world of the never-new now. Along the way we’ve made the past more accessible than ever. The “past is no longer a foreign country,” writes Paul Ford. He elaborates: “Take the Kennedy assassination, for instance. In honor of the event’s 50th anniversary last November, CBS... Read more
Euhemerism – the belief that ancient gods were original human beings – was popular during the early modern period, and most euhemerists were biblical euhemerists, keen to show how pagan myths grew out of biblical characters and episodes. Samuel Bochart was a master, relying on etymological connections to harmonize Scripture and ancient history. Buchwald and Feingold (Newton and the Origin of Civilization, 156) summarize Bochart’s argument for connection Moses and Bacchus: “They were both born in Egypt, both rescued from... Read more
In an appendix to Why Priests? Garry Wills translates the letter to the Hebrews, and explains some of his translation choices. They are spot on. Pistis he translates as “fidelity,” and he explains: “The point of the famous praise of pistis in Hebrews 11.1-40 is established by what immediately precedes it. The author has just said that those who have deserted their profession (homologia) will not have a second chance. God will not side with the backsliders (10.38-39). The last verse... Read more
Newton and the Origin of Civilization by Jed Buchwald and Mordechai Feingold is a search for the historical Newton, an effort to show the single man who could create modern physics while spending his spare time with apocalyptic and biblical chronology. Along the way, the authors provide a treasure chest of forgotten erudition, especially concerning biblical and ancient chronology. Chronology was a contentious business: “in seventeenth-century parlance ‘when two men be irreconcileable, they are . . . compared to Chronologers’”... Read more
I sketch some of the contours of sanctuary theology at the Trinity House site. Read more
Christopher Elwood (The Body Broken, 75) claims that Calvin’s “instrumental” view of sacramental efficacy opens up a space for critical scrutiny: “Rather than being regarded as either sacred or secular, political and social orders, by analogy with the sacramental elements, were likely seen by the attentive reader of Calvin’s writings as God’s instruments, possessing no inherent or abiding virtue and exercising power only as a result of the active determination of God. This shift in paradigms, it should be stressed,... Read more
Leithart
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