Acts 24:24-25: But some days later Felix arrived with Drusilla, his wife who was a Jewess, and sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. But as he was discussing righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix became frightened and said, “Go away for the present, and when I find time I will summon you.” If a Roman governor asked you to appear to talk about “faith in Jesus,” what would you say? You’d talk... Read more
Colossians 3:3: You have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. For ancient people, wisdom was the wisdom of death. A wise man knows he is going to die, that his life is lived toward death, and that death is an absolute end. A wise man resigns himself to death, courageously facing the hopelessness of the grave, or rushes toward death, embracing it on the battlefield or in a noble suicide. When the letter to the... Read more
Genesis is the kissingest book in the Bible. Isaac kisses Jacob when he comes in disguised as Esau, Jacob kisses Rachel when he arrives in Haran , and then Laban turns around and kisses Jacob. When Jacob returns from Laban’s, Esau runs to give him a hairy kiss, and when Joseph meets his brothers, he kisses them. Joseph brings his sons to Jacob so their grandfather can kiss them from his deathbed, and Joseph kisses and weeps over his dying... Read more
RPC Hanson notes an “ingenious” application of the euhemerist theory that the pagan gods originated from human beings: The god Separis “who was represented as having a bushel for a headdress, was in reality the patriarch Joseph whom the supertitious Egyptians had deified after his death out of gratitude for his supplying them with corn.” Read more
A footnote to From Silence to Song . In Hezekiah’s rededication ceremony, the Levites play instruments and sing during the ascension offering (2 Chronicles 29:25-30). Their offerings ascend with song; they ascend in song. Alongside the smoke from the animal, they offer up prayers and an offering of praise. Mingled with the smoke of the offering is the sound of singing, musical instruments. The singing and music-making doesn’t start with the purification offering. Song starts with the ascent, and continues... Read more
1 Corinthians 10:16-17: Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the loaf which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf. What is the church? The church is a body, and like a body it has many different parts and organs and limbs but is yet one. The... Read more
Words are central to human relationships. We can see only the outside of other people, but words bring out things from within. But relationships are not just words, but an exchange of words, offering our words and getting words back, giving and receiving words. A one-sided conversation is no conversation. A one-sided relationship is no relationship. But it often seems that we carry on a one-way conversation with God. We pray, and He’s silent. We sing, and He might give... Read more
It was an ancient axiom that truth comes before error. “The real thing always exists before the representation of it,” Tertullian wrote, “the copy comes later.” This means “truth comes first and falsification afterwards.” The “always” in first statement is self-evidently false; the reality is frequently the opposite. In some cases, reality precedes representation – map before territory, God before image of God, mountain before my depiction of a mountain. But not “always”: Blueprints before buildings, strategies before battles, outline... Read more
And another thing: Who could believe that you could make a movie that is not just watchable but deeply engaging with basically two people, one of whom says nothing? What kind of artistic chutzpah does it take to try to wring drama out of a 2-hour monologue? What kind of genius does it take to succeed? Read more
Ingmar Bergman’s 1966 Persona is brilliant cinematic philosophy. Elisabet, an actress, becomes confused during a performance and falls silent. Her psychiatrist gives this diagnosis: She got tired of playing roles, putting on masks, and knew that every word she spoke involved some sort of performance. So she stopped speaking. But the psychiatrist also discerns that her silence is also a performance, and urges her to play it for all its worth and then move on to another role. Sister Alma,... Read more
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