Delight, writes Paul Griffith in Song of Songs (Brazo’s Theological Commentary on the Bible) (92-3) is “an offering rather than an asking.” By gazing appreciatively at his beloved and praising her in words, the lover offers “the beloved his appreciation of her and, in making that offering, gives[s] to her a state of being she could not have given herself. This is the condition of being a beloved. This is part of the ordinary dynamic exchange of love: when you... Read more
From Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ (Penguin Classics) , ch 54: “Nature indeed is wily and betrays many through its deceits and crafty ways, and has always self as its end. Nature always looks to its own advantage, considering what gain it can derive from another. But grace is not concerned with its own profit, but with what may benefit others. Nature is greedy and gladly takes rather than gives, and clings possessively to private possessions. But grace... Read more
Back in May 2012, Joel Rosenberg reported at his blog : “’Iran’s ayatollahs are showing frustration with Iranians leaving Islam for Christianity in large numbers despite the threat of execution for apostasy,’ reports Reza Khalili on The Daily Calle r website . . . . “A former intelligence officer in the Guards, who has now defected to Europe, told The Daily Caller that the country’s regime has ordered the domestic intelligence apparatus to use drastic measures to stop them —... Read more
In a December 2012 article in Charisma Magazine , Audrey Lee reports on the Christian revival taking place among Muslims in Iraq and Iran: “Mission researchers estimate more Muslims have committed to follow Christ in the last 10 years than in the last 15 centuries of Islam. Yet Islamic governments make up some of the worst persecutors of Christians, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Despite the persecution, reports indicate God is moving dramatically in Islamic... Read more
Though Kurt Stasiak is a Roman Catholic and a Benedictine, much of what he writes in Sacramental Theology: Means of Grace, Way of Life (Catholic Basics: A Pastoral Ministry Series) is catholic in another sense. He points out (18) that sacraments are not a “sacred parenthesis,” a slice of holy, or a time out. Instead, “sacraments are the ‘verbs’ of our life; they are those actions, celebrated at special times and in special places, that show us how we are... Read more
In their history of zoos ( Zoo: A History of Zoological Gardens in the West ), Eric Baratay and Elisabeth Hardouin-Fugier note a connection between Crusades and the development of European zoos. Romans maintained seraglios for the animals used in combats, and these were continued in Byzantium until the twelfth or thirteenth centuries. But “ti was through contact with Byzantium and the Muslim world, which was in the process of becoming the West’s supplier of wild animals, that the Crusaders... Read more
Some nuggets from Thomas. The first from his commentary on the Sentences (XLIV, 1, 2): “They reason falsely [who say that] since an angel is better than a stone, therefore two angels are better than one angel and a stone . . . . Although an angel, considered absolutely is better than a stone, yet two natures are better than one only; and therefore a universe containing angels and other things is better than one containing angels only; since the... Read more
It’s odd to describe a book with a title like Life, the Universe, and Everything: An Aristotelian Philosophy for a Scientific Age as “delightful” and “charming,” but that’s what Ric Machuga’s book is. Besides “clear,” “rigorous” and “illuminating.” Some samples from a discussion of God’s omnipotence (pp. 256-7): “Suppose an omnipotent and good Creator created a universe in which there were exactly a billion people with real freedom, yet there was no pain and suffering. Would this be the ‘best... Read more
In his Christianity and History (94), Herbert Butterfield gives this wonderful musical analogy of history: “We might say that this human story is like a piece of orchestra music that we are playing over for the first time. In our presumption we may act as though we were the composer of the piece or try to bring out our own particular part as the leading one. But in reality I personally only see the part of it, shall we say,... Read more
In his just-published Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works (Cultural Liturgies) , James KA Smith quotes this remarkable passage from a speech by David Foster Wallace: “In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship – be it JC or Allah,... Read more
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