On the fourth Sunday of Advent, 1511, a Dominican friar, Antonio de Montesinos, preached a sermon to the Spanish colonists in the main church of Santo Domingo. Bartolome de Las Casas was in the congregation that day, and the rest, as the say, is history. Here’s the central portion of that sermon: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. In order to make your sins known to you I have mounted this pulpit, I who am the... Read more
In Local Justice, Jon Elster discusses various principles that guide the allocation of resources in local settings. One of the common principles is “absolute equality,” which he thinks is defensible on various grounds: “Even when there is no consensus that equality is inherently fair, it is often the only focal point for the resolution of conflicts. The debate over the suffrage illustrates this proposition. Given the competing claims to superiority of various social groups (the rich, the educated, the well-born,... Read more
Speech exists that we may “lovingly create names,” writes Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy (In the Cross of Reality, 149). “Speaking is always courting” (149). Courtrooms exist for those times when speech falters. In a courtroom, speech turns from courtship to dispute and this setting changes the character of speech: “In a debate, the parties who think they are right must be so precise with each word that even the most mistrustful opponent cannot cast doubt on it. . . . It is... Read more
Jay Zysk’s Shadow and Substance is a recent contribution to a growing literature linking early modern theology with early modern drama. Zysk focuses on the ways Reformation disputes about the Eucharist play into plays, how Eucharistic semiotics shapes understandings of bodies and signs, flesh and spirit, letter and figure, words and deeds (28-52). Early in the book, he tackles Coriolanus, worked out by comparison with passion plays like Christ Crucified. He doesn’t suggest that Coriolanus is a Christ figure, but explores... Read more
For Luther, faith isn’t mere assent to truth, nor even confidence and trust in a distant savior. As David Fink puts it, “Faith . . . becomes the unitive force,” or, in Luther’s words, it “takes hold of Christ and has Him present, enclosing Him as the ring encloses a gem” (Reformation Readings of Paul, 46). Still, Luther insisted, faith isn’t the same as love, but rather precedes it: “Because you have taken hold of Christ by faith, through whom you... Read more
In his analysis of Luther’s treatment of Galatians (in Reformation Readings of Paul), David Fink gives a brief overview of pre-Reformation interpretations of the letter. Jerome said that the letter “is concerned especially with establishing the ‘cessation of the old Law and the introduction of the new Law.'” Jerome sees the relation as one of promise and fulfillment, “whereby the fullness of evangelical grace renders obsolete the burdens of Jewish custom” (34). In contrast to Romans, which addresses Jews who... Read more
Vico’s claim that verum et factum convertuntur, “the true and the made are convertible,” has been taken as a sign of the foundational atheism of modernity. Benedict XVI sees Vico’s claim as a secularization, a turn from the uncreated truth that is God to constructed human things. As Robert Miner insists (Vico: Genealogist of Modernity), this is certainly not Vico’s own perspective. The convertibility of truth and the made is a theological claim. Miner writes, “After linking truth and making... Read more
“Liberals and communists,” writes Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy (In the Cross of Reality), “have in common that they wish to make do without church and dogma, and indeed without faith. . . . reason is enough, for we can say what we think” (141). Both retain the term “believe,” but relegate it to “private opinion or presumption . . . an inferior species of thinking, mere fancy” (142). Instead of faith, liberalism speaks of “credit,” which is the religion of liberalism. Rosenstock writes,... Read more
Amid the swirl of sexual harassment charges, Claire Dederer asks what we ought to do with the art of monstrous men. It’s not a side issue. Many of the geniuses in the history of art have been monstrous. Dederer even ventures that monstrosity is inherent in artistic achievement. You need a lot to become a great writer, she says, but above all you need selfishness: “A book is made out of small selfishnesses. The selfishness of shutting the door against your... Read more
Things are not as they should be, and Judah calls for Yahweh to descend to help. Rip the heavens, shake the earth, boil the sea; tear the three-story house of the universe apart brick by brick, but come down to help! (Isaiah 64). Judah has come to acknowledge that she’s to blame for her own condition. Verse 6 uses a series of comparisons (using the particle k- four times) that stress the universality of Israel’s predicament (kol, “all,” is used three times):... Read more
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