Stewart Clem has this to say about The Tree of Life : Malick’s film “looks unflinchingly at life’s greatest mysteries – love, loss, alienation, and suffering – without a hint of cynicism. It’s a feat that’s rarely even attempted.” It “not only attempts to be beautiful, but invites and urges the viewer to think about beauty itself. We only need to remember Gore Vidal’s remark that ‘Santayana was the last aesthetician to describe beauty without self-consciousness; and that was in... Read more
The New Yorker reviewer of A World on Fire: Britain’s Crucial Role in the American Civil War notes that the Civil War was the American war that fundamentally changed American consciousness, and America’s place in the world: “More than our War of Independence, which we grandly styled a Revolution (France, 1789: now, there was a revolution!), the American Civil War provoked awe. When the news from Antietam reached the English papers, almost two weeks after the event, readers were stunned:... Read more
A report in the current New Yorker on the Murdoch scandal explains how reporters are in the scandal-laundering business: “Bradley Manning is a traitor, but Nick Davies, of the Guardian (who received Manning’s ‘war logs’ from WikiLeaks), is a patriot, and Julian Assange occupies some nebulous in-between zone. Prosecutors who use search warrants to pry into politicians’ personal lives and then leak their findings before filing any charges are sleazy. Journalists who publish transcripts of Eliot Spitzer’s text messages to... Read more
Josh Gibbs demurs on my endorsement of Tree of Life : “I found much to like in The Tree of Life , but a few things stick in my craw. First and foremost the fact that Zbigniew Preisner’s “Lacrimosa” plays over images of the cosmos beginning. What is a song from a requiem doing when the outpouring of Triune love generates all of creation? Are creation and the Fall the same event? The comfort which Malick’s God seems to offer... Read more
The first section of Isaiah (chs. 1-12) has seven sections, which roughly match the days of creation. 1. Isaiah begins by calling “heaven and earth” as witnesses against Judah (1:2). Day 1. 2. Chapters 2-4 are concerned with idolatry and Judah’s leaders, their mediators. These chapters are about the “firmament” mediators in Judah. Day 2. 3. Chapter 5 begins with a parable of the vineyard. On Day 3, plants sprang from the earth. 4. The central section, chapters 6-9:7 is... Read more
A follow-up on yesterday’s brief comment on 2 Chronicles 26 and Uzziah’s pride: Isaiah 1:1 says that Isaiah prophesied during the reign of Uzziah, but the only other reference to Uzziah in the book is a death notice in 6:1. I’ve argued in an earlier post that the first five chapters are the prophesies of Uzziah’s reign. Now I’ve actually looked at 2 Chronicles 26, which recounts Uzziah’s reign (duh!) and it seems to fit, especially with Isaiah 2-3. 2... Read more
Critics say that Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life is incomprehensible in its juxtaposition of the Big-Bang and primeval myth with a 1950s/60s family drama. The O’Brien family experiences a renching loss, despite their confidence that those who live by grace (= self-sacrifice) are safe. In the face of loss, the most natural thing in the world is to raise the question of the universe: What’s this all about? What do we mean to Him? What’s the use of living... Read more
James Jordan noted in a lecture on Zechariah that the date of Zechariah’s night visions is specified as day, month, and year. This stands in contrast to the introductory verses (1:1-6), which date only by the month and year. Jordan’s conclusion was that biblical datings are more precise in sanctuary-building contexts. We know the day of the planting of Eden’s garden, the completion of the tabernacle and temple. We know only month and year for many other events. Jordan pointed... Read more
In his first vision, Zechariah sees the Angel of Yahweh among the myrtles. James Jordan suggests that the small but beautiful and aromatic myrtle is the new tree for the returned exiles. As the terebinth was the tree of the Abrahamic period, and the cedar the tree of monarchy, so the hadas is the tree of restoration. Twice the angel is said to stand “among” (Heb. byn ) the myrtles (1:8, 11). An angel in a bush reminds one of... Read more
According to 2 Chronicles 26, Uzziah was a powerful and successful king, but his power went to his head and he became proud. The Hebrew word behind “become proud” is gabah , related to gibeah , “high place.” Uzziah’s attempt to offer incense in the temple treated the temple as just another high place; it was a species of liturgical idolatry. Importantly, this is the verb same word-group that Isaiah uses, especially in chapter 2, to describe the haughtiness and... Read more
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