“The world in its essence, is a community, a community of creator and created, and has its source, God. Thus concludes a recently published Princeton undergraduate thesis, recently recovered by Princeton’s Eric Gregory. The thesis was written in 1942 . . . . by John Rawls! Before he got to his better known works, he had lost his faith, among other things because of Auschwitz: “How could I pray and ask God to help me, or my family, or my... Read more
A brief preview of the David Foster Wallace collection at the University of Texas Harry Ransom Center ( Newsweek , 11/29) shows that Wallace was not actually the “purely pomo author” that he might seem. The collection contains notes and files for his unfinished and forthcoming Pale King , described as a “novel about IRS agents trying to make moral sense of bureacratized life,” and show that he did extensive research for the novel – taking accounting classes and sending... Read more
As mentioned in previous posts, Isaiah’s list of ornaments and jewelry in 3:16-24 is reminiscent of the priestly garb. But it’s all being stripped off. The daughters of Zion are being de-ordained, de-consecrated. Except: Isaiah says that those who survive the stripping of the altar-servants are “holy” (4:3). What looked like a de-consecration is actually the opposite. And this is the meaning of exile: Stripped of temple, priesthood, and kingship, Israel enters more fully than ever into her calling as... Read more
The folks at First Things have posted an article of mine on their web site: http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2010/12/fire-of-love Read more
When Yahweh creates a cloud by day and smoke, and the shining of fire flaming by night (Isaiah 4:5), He reestablishes His kabod , glory. According to the NASB, the glory is a defense, but the word translated as defense is used only two other times in the OT. In Psalm 19, it’s the chamber from which the bridegroom sun races every morning, and in Joel 2:16, it’s a bridal chamber. What is Yahweh’s glory? It’s the bridal chamber, the... Read more
Isaiah uses the loaded verb bara’ in 4:5, and, as my colleague toby Sumpter points out, this comes after a double reference to the Spirit (cf. Genesis 1:2) and before creation-related references to day, night, and possibly a firmament covering/canopy. But Isaiah’s “new creation” is coming through judgment. The Spirit is not a soothing Spirit of order, but a purging Spirit of judgment and fire. Creation comes through Word and Spirit; new creation through the Word and Spirit of judgment.... Read more
Isaiah 4:4 promises that Yahweh will wash the filth and purge the blood from the daughters of Zion and from the midst of Jerusalem. The initial part of the sentence is chiastically structured: A. When Yahweh has washed B. filth of daughters of Zion B’. and blood of Jerusalem A’. has purged from her midst The verse pulses with sacrificial imagery. Sacrifices were washed and purged (see the use of the verb duach in 2 Chronicles 4:6 and Ezekiel 40:38)... Read more
Isaiah’s oracle against the “daughters of Zion” begins in 3:16 and doesn’t conclude until the end of chapter 4. The oracle as a whole has a fairly neat chiastic structure: A. Daughters of Zion and their walk, 3:16-17 B. In that day; beauty ( tiph’arah ): Yahweh removes, 3:18-23 C. Zion deserted, 3:24-4:1 B’. In that day; beauty ( tiph’arah ): Branch and fruit, 4:2-3 A’. Yahweh washes daughters of Zion, 4:4-6 It’s possible that the central section should be... Read more
Isaiah gives us a long list of ornaments and jewelry removed from the daughters of Zion (3:18-23). Like all biblical lists, this one is worth counting up. There are two ways of counting. When we count words (beginning with “beauty” in v 18, tiph’arah ), we get 24, double the number of Israel’s tribes. When we combine the words that form into phrases (“house of soul” – bayit ha-nephesh , v. 20; “nose rings,” v. 21), we get 22, the... Read more
Greeks sacrificed to share a meal with the gods, but Jane Harrison (in her classic Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (Cambridge Library Collection – Classics) ) found another sort of sacrifice lurking in the dark corners of Greek religion. According to Harrison, “un-eaten sacrifices are characteristic of angry ghosts demanding placation and of a whole class of underworld divinities in general.” This is significant in itself. Greek sacrificial procedures included what Harrison calls “rites of riddance” for the... Read more
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