When American mothers objected to the Barbie doll, Matelle got to work to convince them that it was OK: “A shrewd ad campaign overcame maternal resistance by suggesting that daughters who dressed and groomed Barbie, with her vast collection of accessories and outfits, would learn how to become well-turned-out young ladies, rather than tomboys. It worked” ( The New Yorker ). Read more
In a harrowing article about the reconstruction of a young man’s face after an electrical burn in The New Yorker , the author says in passing: “Reconstructive surgery is an ancient art, dating back at least to the time of the Upanishads, in India. In about 600 B.C., Sushruta, a scholar from Varanasi, catalogued more than three hundred surgical procedures, among them what may be the first documented rhinoplasty, which involved using the leaf of a creeper as a measuring... Read more
Song of Songs 3:1-4 is a highly repetitive passage, but it does have a logic and unity to it. The structure appears to be: A. On my bed: seeking the one whom my soul loves, v 1a B. Sought but did not find, v 1b C. I arose and surveyed the city ( ‘asovvah ba’iyr ) for the one whom my soul loves, v 2a D/B’. I sought the one whom my soul loves, but did not find, v 2b... Read more
For all you readers of Bulgarian, there’s a translation of my book Against Christianity here: https://againstchristianity.wordpress.com/ Read more
In a 2007 essay on leonine imagery in the Journal for the Study of Pseudepigrapha , Brent Strawn helpfully summarizes the associations of the lion in the Bible, Apocrypha, Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, and Gnostic texts. It’s a fascinating survey, rich in colorful detail (like the story of the baptized lion in the Acts of Paul ). His main question, though, is why Revelation does the bait-and-switch of first introducing Jesus as Lion, then immediately, and... Read more
Giffiths speaks of the “complex admixture of regret and lament for unworthiness . . . and delight in lovability” that marks human love, and adds: “The presence of the one without the other makes it impossible to receive the offer of love and therefore impossible to be a beloved. Were you to respond to the gift of love with an unruffled sense of your own beauty and worthiness to be given that give, you would not be a beloved –... Read more
Some profound meditations about sex, time, life, the universe and everything from Paul Griffiths’s Song of Songs (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible) : The first six verses of the Song “point the hearer first to what everyone knows about [human love and sexual desire], which is that the memory of lovemaking and the imagination of its repetition are at least as important for us as its performance. We are constituted as beings in time and as beings who are... Read more
“Bowl” ( phiale ) is used twelve times in the New Testament, all in Revelation. This is obviously the number of Israel. Israel’s twelve tribes are the twelve golden vessels of God, molded by God, fired in the furnace of affliction, shined up for service in God’s house. Once in Revelation, in 5:8, the bowls contain incense that is the prayer of the saints. The other eleven vials are filled with the wrath of God, the wine that is squeezed... Read more
John sees the Lamb “in the midst of the throne” (Revelation 5:6), precisely where he had seen the living creatures (4:6). Before the Lamb’s arrival, the four creatures make up the seat of the throne – they are in its midst; and they are also surrounding the throne, forming the outer structure. The Lord is enthroned on the beasts, and He is surrounded by the beasts as if they were guardians of the throne. Now, however, the Lamb is in... Read more
The Lamb is as if slain, but stands in heaven (Revelation 5:6). That might appear odd, John knows his sacrificial system. This is precisely what happened to all lambs that were slain on Israel’s altars. The sacrificial procedure was not completed when the Lamb was killed. The Lamb was killed, dismembered, and then turned to smoke that ascended to God. The sacrificial sequence moved from presenting and slaying of a Lamb to its appearance in the presence of Yahweh. Standing... Read more
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