Leithart
The fifth of Ralph Smith’s studies in Deuteronomy is available today at the Trinity House site. Read more
The fifth of Ralph Smith’s studies in Deuteronomy is available today at the Trinity House site. Read more
In a wide-ranging review of the evidence in the TLS, Eric Naiman concludes that Dickens never met Dostoevsky, and Dickens never confessed to Dostoevsky what Claire Tomalin says he confessed. Tomalin cited a letter from Dostoevsky describing Dickens’s confession: “All the good simple people in his novels, Little Nell, even the holy simpletons like Barnaby Rudge, are what he wanted to have been, and his villains were what he was (or rather, what he found in himself), his cruelty, his... Read more
NT Wright, following a long tradition, explains that justification is a declaratory act. It is a verdict of acquitted, cleared, vindicated in the view of the court. There is an immediate communal dimension to this: The acquitted person is “in good standing in the community as the result of the judge’s pronouncement” ( Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision ). Think of an accused criminal, viewed with suspicion and fear by his neighbors; when he is found not guilty, the... Read more
Various commentators suggest that the four living creatures in Revelation (ox, lion, eagle, man) represent the whole of animate creation joined to praise God. Which raises the obvious question: Where are the fish? You have a sky animal, a wild land animal, a domesticated land animal, and a man to lead them. But no fish. The four creatures clear do not represent the whole of animate creation (fish have souls too!), but only land and sky. In heaven, where creation... Read more
Bruce Ellis Benson summarizes his opening argument in Liturgy as a Way of Life: Embodying the Arts in Christian Worship with this: “the fundamental structure of our lives is that of the call and response. That call and response can rightly be considered artistic in that we are – in our being – God’s works of art. That we participate with God in developing ourselves (not to mention being creators of specific artworks) is due to our call to be... Read more
David is frequently under threat in the Psalms, usually from enemies. In Psalm 40, though, the enemies seem to be different. “Evils beyond number have surrounded me; my iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see” (v. 12). David’s own sins are his enemies, circling, setting up siege works, looking for an opportunity to strike and kill. When he asks for deliverance (v. 13), these are the enemies that he wants to escape. When Yahweh intervenes... Read more
Psalm 148:7-12 calls everything to praise the Yahweh, from sea monsters to children. The list has a number of interesting features. It is organized first by the zones of creation and then by the categories of created things. It begins with the sea (v. 7b), moves to the sky (v. 8), and then to the earth (v. 9). Once it arrives at earth it stays there, first describing topography, then plants, then four categories of animals (wild beasts, livestock, creepers,... Read more
The Spirit joins us to Christ so we share all His gifts. The Spirit binds us in the communion of the saints. The Spirit is the earnest of our future inheritance. He is the Spirit of salvation, the Spirit of the church, the Spirit of the future. Economy reveals ontology. Therefore we can say: The Spirit is the gift from the Father to the Son and the return gift of the Son to the Father. The Spirit is the love... Read more
The last of Jesus’ woes in Matthew 23 warns about the judgment coming on the scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites for their treatment of the prophets. Several notes: First, the Pharisees and scribes say that they would not have shed the blood of prophets as their fathers did (v. 30). This sounds like penitence, but Jesus draws another conclusion: By acknowledging that the prophet-killers are their fathers, the Pharisees and scribes acknowledge that they are the sons of prophet-killers (v. 31).... Read more
Work is worrisome. Time was, though, when you could leave the worries at the office. Not any more, Bauman says ( Collateral Damage: Social Inequalities in a Global Age , 76): “Most of us take those worries with us, in our laptops and mobile phones, wherever we go – to our homes, for weekend strolls, in holiday hotels: we are never further than a phone call or a phone message from the office, constantly at people’s beck and call. Connected... Read more
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