In an article from the 1950s, Paul Kristeller traced the development of the system of the fine arts that everyone since at least Kant has taken for granted. He notes that this system, which considers some specific endeavours as “fine arts” separated from mere “crafts” or “artisanship,” was given a strong impetus by the quarrel of ancients and moderns launched in response to Charles Perrault’s poem Le Siecle de Louis le Grand . What was at issue was the problem... Read more
De Certeau suggests that Cusa’s Germanized Latin provides a linguistic illustration of his theory of the “coincidence of opposites”: “Germanisms haunt his Latin. They are the ghosts of a particular place (Rhineland, or Germany) in a different place, Latin, a language supposed to be ‘universal’ but in fact limited to a particular region and genealogy. They are at the same time traces in the present of a local speech pattern in an inheritance received from the past. Some Italian humanists... Read more
Steven A. Walton provides an illuminating summary of the scholastic incorporation of mechanical arts into philosophy and theology. John the Scot first used the term artes mechanicae in the ninth century, and monasteries preserved and improved upon ancient technologies, but “they did not warrant inclusion in the philosophical canon.” Most Christian thinkers retained the ancient denigration of material arts: “Archimedes repudiated engineering because of its ‘mere utility and profit,’ and Aristotle treats mechanics as a branch of mathematics, but only... Read more
In his treatise De Venatione Sapientiae , Nicholas of Cusa explained the Platonic doctrine of ideas as follows: “Ideas are not separated from individuals in such a way as to be extrinsic exemplars. For the individual’s nature is united to the Idea itself, from which it has all these [endowments] naturally. Laërtius said that Plato maintained that the Idea is both one and many, both stationary and moved. For insofar as it is an incorruptible specific form, it is intelligible... Read more
A friend, Jim Rogers, sends along this quotation from the late Richard Neuhaus: “Scholars generally agree that in the first century there were approximately six million Jews in the Roman Empire . . . That was about one tenth of the entire population. About one million were in Palestine, including today’s State of Israel, while those in the diaspora were very much part of the establishment in cities such as Alexandria and Constantinople . . . . Some scholars have... Read more
Wow. That’s my initial reaction to a quick perusal of the opening chapters of Douglas Campbell’s The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul , just out from Eerdmans. Campbell attacks what he calls the “foundationalism” and “contractualism” that undergird “Justification theory” as it has been understood since the Reformation. Weighing in at well over 1000 pages, it’s a breathtaking performance. What’s wrong with “Justification theory”? A lot, Campbell thinks. (more…) Read more
INTRODUCTION In Daniel 11, a Gentile ruler (Antiochus IV Epiphanes) allied with apostate Jews to defile the temple and persecute faithful Jews. The same thing happens in the first century A.D.: The sea beast ( Rome ) and the land beast (Judaism) band together to drink the blood of the saints (Revelation 13; 16-18). The whole world staggers and falls. THE TEXT “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give... Read more
Picking up on James Jordan’s treatment of this theme. In Matthew 24, Jesus speaks about a specific “abomination of desolation,” the one spoken of by Daniel. The passage He cites is from Daniel 11:31: “ For ships from Cyprus shall come against him; therefore he shall be grieved, and return in rage against the holy covenant, and do damage. So he shall return and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant. 31 And forces shall be mustered by... Read more
INTRODUCTION The great signal that the city is about to fall is the “abomination of desolation,” prophesied by Daniel (v. 15). When that occurs, the “great tribulation” has come (v. 21). THE TEXT “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains . . . .” (Matthew 24:15-31). (more…) Read more
Matthew 24:3: Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives , the disciples came to Him privately, saying, Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age? The prophecy of Matthew 24-25 is frequently described as the Olivet Discourse because Jesus delivers it on the Mount of Olives across the Kidron valley to the east of Jerusalem . As Jesus speaks to His disciples, Herod’s... Read more
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