Ancient men worshiped by giving gifts to the gods. Modern humanitarians worship by giving gifts to men. It’s as if everyone thinks that true worship is the worship of man. It’s as if everyone is somehow knows that there is a man on the throne of heaven, even people who don’t believe in heaven anymore. No ascension, no humanitarianism. Humanitarianism is haunted by Christology. Read more
Gulliver doing his field work in Lilliput: “There are some laws and customs in this empire very peculiar; and if they were not so directly contrary to those of my own dear country, I should be tempted to say a little in their justification. It is only to be wished they were as well executed. The first I shall mention, relates to informers. All crimes against the state, are punished here with the utmost severity; but, if the person accused... Read more
A thought or two on Ruth arising from student papers. The book begins with “a certain man ” (1:1) and introduces a couple of other men (1:2). In a few verses, the men are all dead, and the next time a man appears in the story it is Boaz (2:1). He is identified as a kinsman of Elimelech, and the immediate expectation might be that he is the redeemer for Naomi. In the end he is, but he becomes the... Read more
Lester K. Little ( Religious Poverty and the Profit Economy in Medieval Europe , 66-7) writes, “In Benedict’s Rule, the liturgy took up about one-fourth of a monk’s waking hours; by the late eleventh century it had expanded to fill practically the entire day. The original number of psalms to be recited each day was 40; by the end of the ninth century the number had increased to 138; and two centuries later it had reached 170.” Liturgy colonized hours... Read more
Some years ago, Jacques Le Goff argued in The Birth of Purgatory that the notion of Purgatory as a place distinct from heaven and hell emerged only in the late twelfth century. Notions of purgation after death appear much earlier, but Le Goff claimed that the linguistic evidence pointed to a later development. Purgatorium replaced purgatorius ignis and purgatoriis locis between 1160 and 1180. Le Goff’s book ignited a fiery battle among medievalists, but more recently Megan McLaughlin ( Consorting... Read more
It’s terribly hard, Seneca thinks, for a beneficiary to escape the debt of gratitude he owes. The benefactor goes first, and his gift is gratuitous, not a response to a prior gift. The recipient can only catch up if he outstrips the original gift ( On Benefits (The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca) , 1.4.3). This means psychic if not social slavery. Beneficiaries in the Roman world are almost by definition social and economic and political inferiors to their... Read more
Christian critics of just war theory sometimes point out that the tradition originates not with Christian thinkers but with pagans, Romans like Cicero. True enough, says James Brundage in his contribution to The Holy War (p. 102), but the Christians who took up the Roman theory modified it. “In Roman thought,” Brundage says, “the term ‘just war’ tended to have as much ceremonial as moral content. A bellum justum et pium was a war that had been properly declared, with... Read more
Joel 2:18: Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, and will have pity on His people. Few books of the Bible portray as bleak a wasteland as Joel. A locust plague leaves the land desolate. A fire consumes everything green: “The land is like the garden of Eden before them, but a desolate wildness behind them” (2:3). As a result, the temple worship grinds to a halt. Israel’s worship is exchange with the products of the land. Without... Read more
Psalm 72:6-7: May he come down like rain upon the mown grass, like showers that water the earth. In his days may the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace till the moon is no more. The Spirit is like water from heaven. Judah is a wasteland “until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high (Isaiah 32:15). Yahweh promises to “pour out streams on the thirsty land,” and in the next breath says “I will pour out my... Read more
Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Samson, Samuel, John the Baptist – all were sons of barren women. God makes the barren woman a joyful mother of children. But He does more: He makes those born from the barren the best. He does the same with the land. When the patriarchs first enter Canaan, there’s a famine, then another, and another, and another. But God makes the barren best, and turns Canaan into a land of milk and honey. We don’t believe this.... Read more
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