Yahweh calls Zion to shake off her dust (Isaiah 52:2). Dust is the place of mourning; Zion sits in dust and ashes. Adam was made from dust, and in death returned to dust; dust is the grave, and Zion is a new Eve, called out of the grave to rise and sit enthroned. Sitting in dust is parallel to wearing shackles; dust and imprisonment are the same. Zion is called from the prison of exile, like Joseph, raised up to... Read more
Yahweh calls Zion from her sleep and excitedly orders her to get dressed (Isaiah 52:1). Like the call to “Awake! Awake!” the order to put on clothes is doubled: Clothe yourself with strength, Zion. Clothe yourself in garments of beauty, Jerusalem. Two observations: First, the call to be clothed in strength is a call to be dressed as Yahweh Himself is dressed, for He “has clothed and girded Himself with strength” (Psalm 93:1). Zion puts on the armor of the... Read more
Arendt has some sharp observations on the dangers of bureaucratization in On Violence (81): “Bureaucracy is the form of government in which everybody is deprived of political freedom, of the power to act; for the rule by Nobody is not no-rule, and here all are equally powerless we have a tyranny without a tyrant.” Writing in 1970, Arendt finds in this an explanation of the student protests that targeted the “system”: “In a fully developed bureaucracy there is nobody left... Read more
Is it fitting for Jesus, who died so ignominiously, to be buried in splendor? Thomas has various answers to that question ( ST III, 51, 2), but I think the best answers are inherent to the literary structure and themes of the gospel, especially John. Matthew tells us that Joseph of Arimathea wrapped Jesus in a linen cloth and put him in the tomb (27:59). There’s no mention of spices. Mark records the same as Matthew (15:46), but adds that... Read more
The notion that death can be life-giving doesn’t appear to make philosophical sense, Thomas notes ( ST III, 50, 6). Death is a privation of life, and a privation doesn’t have power to act. Therefore, no death, including Christ’s, has power to give life. Thomas admits that Christ’s death (as opposed to His Passion, His sufferings) does not bring life by way of merit. But it does have life-giving power by virtue of “causality.” This is true only because the... Read more
Republicans are changing their minds on same-sex marriage, but, according to NRO’s Daniel Foster , in more complicated ways than might appear. Some raw numbers to start: “opposition to same-sex marriage is increasingly tenuous, particularly along two axes. First, self-described tea-party Republicans oppose gay marriage 84/13, while Republicans who describe themselves as neutral toward or opposed to the Tea Party oppose gay marriage by smaller 62/34 and 52/47 splits, respectively. This is a more or less momentous split depending on... Read more
Rev. Richard Bledsoe explores the pastoral and social implications of the story of the Gadarene demoniac over at the Trinity House web site. Read more
In her little classic On Violence , Hannah Arendt quotes two complaints against the injustice of time. Alexander Herzen: “Human development is a form of chronological injustice, since late-comers are able to profit by the labors of their predecessors without paying the same price.” And Kant: “it will always remain bewildering . . . that the earlier generations seem to carry on their burdensome business only for the sake of the latter . . . and that only the last... Read more
Like all medievals, like all scholastics, Thomas asks unusual questions. Nearly always they are odd questions that help you turn corners to see roads you wouldn’t have seen otherwise. He asks, “Was the Godhead of the Son separated from the flesh of Christ when he died?” ( ST III, 50, 2), and says, No. It’s there in the creed too: The Son was conceived, suffered, died, buried. Besides, the human nature of the Son exists only by virtue of the... Read more
How does Christ’s passion liberate from sin? Perhaps surprisingly, Thomas’s first answer (III, 49, 1) is entirely Abelardian: “Christ’s Passion is the proper cause of the forgiveness of sins in three ways. First of all, by way of exciting our charity . . . it is by charity that we procure pardon of our sins.” His second answer is Augustinian, reliant on the concept of the totus Christus : Christ’s passion causes forgiveness because “He is our Head” and thus... Read more
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