Curtius also has an excursus on numerical composition in the patristic and medieval period. 33 was a favorite structuring device – Augustine’s Contra Faustum has 33 sections, as does Cassiodorus’s Institutione . Verse in 33 stanzas was popular, and “Nicholas of Cusa provided in his will that 33 old men should be maintained in a hospital established by himself.” 33, of course was the age of Jesus at his death. 22 was another favorite, deriving from Jerome’s claim that the... Read more
Why would Barr, Saussure, and others think that speakers and writers have only the present meaning of a word in mind? Does it perhaps have something to do with the fact that they have only the present sense in mind? As the previous post showed, this is hardly a universal prejudice. The decline of interest in etymology is fairly recent (cf. Yakov Malkiel’s Etymology for a history of 19th and 20th centuries). Have we all perhaps been trained to ignore... Read more
We’re consistently told by contemporary commentators and theorists of hermeneutics that etymologies ought not be used in biblical studies. One text says that it is “always dangerous” to interpret etymologically. There are at least two reasons for this: 1) Word meanings change, and so the original or historical meaning of a word may be irrelevant to the text being interpreted; 2) Speakers know only the current meaning, not the history of the word. Point #1 is exactly right, but is... Read more
INTRODUCTION This section of Proverbs departs from the two-line structure used through much of the book. Instead, these proverbs run to at least two, sometimes several verses. Verses 17-21, for instance, constitute a single section. Verse 18 is connected to verse 17 by the particle “for,” so that verse 18 gives the ground for the exhortation of verse 17. Verse 19 begins with a purpose clause, showing the goal or aim of the instructive given in verses 17-18. Verses 20-21... Read more
The English delegation to Dort didn’t want the Synod to condemn the view that reprobates can be regenerated and justified for a time, only to lose those benefits. The English delegation was successful; this was not among the errors rejected by the Synod. That is itself a remarkable fact, but the reasoning used is equally so. In A Theologis Ecclesiae Anglicanaae de canonibus formandis alliisque in Synodo Dordacena proposita the delegation declared: “We ourselves think that this doctrine is contrary... Read more
Reader Chris Jones rebuked me, rightly, for putting up Dana Milbank’s version of an Obama quote and accusing him of a Messiah complex. Here’s a fuller version of the quotation, which makes it clear that Obama was actually saying the enthusiasm was about America’s importance and not his own: “It has become increasingly clear in my travel, the campaign, that the crowds, the enthusiasm, 200,000 people in Berlin, is not about me at all. It’s about America. I have become... Read more
Alvin Plantinga has great fun skewering HBC – “historical biblical criticism” – in an essay in Behind the Text . He notes that critics lament that Christians go on as if HBC never happened, and asks if the advocates of HBC have given Christians reason to do otherwise. He concludes they have not. One reason given for HBC is ” force majeure : we simply cannot help it. Given our historical position, there is nothing else we can do; we... Read more
Dana Milbank reports that Obama told a House delegation yesterday: “This is the moment . . . that the world is waiting for,” adding: “I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions.” Yes, indeed, a return to American tradition, particularly the American tradition identified by Daniel Walker Howe in his Pulitzer-winning What Hath God Wrought , that is the tradition of modeling political campaigns on camp meeting revivals. Read more
Rivers (volume 1 of Reason, Grace, and Sentiment ) gives a sympathetic portrayal of the post-Restoration latitudinarians. She cites Gilbert Burnet’s history several times. According to Burnet, the latitude-men “and those who were formed under them, studied to examine farther into the nature of things than had been done formerly. They declared against superstition on the one hand, and enthusiasm on the other. They loves the constitution of the Church and the Liturgy, and could well live under them: But... Read more
In Berkeley, the freethinkers had an opponent at least as smart and witty. In an essay in the Guardian , Berkeley’s character, Ulysses Cosmopolita sees a vision: “I saw a great castle with a fortification cast round it, and a tower adjoining to it that through the windows appeared to be fitted with racks and halters. Beneath the castle I could discern vast dungeons, and all about it lay scattered the bones of men. It seemed to be garrisoned by... Read more
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