Over at the Books & Culture online magazine, Jason Byassee of the Christian Century – and a Duke PhD – lists some of the best lines from Will Blythe’s To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever: A Thoroughly Obsessive, Intermittently Uplifting, and Occasionally Unbiased Account of the Duke-North Carolina Basketball Rivalry (HarperCollins, 2006): (more…) Read more
Lewis Ayres offers some important historical perspective to the claim that there has been a Trinitarian revival in the last several decades: “it is important to notice that claims for a revival of Trinitarian theology have been made in a number of circles since the early nineteenth century in both Protestant and Catholic contexts.” He suggests in a footnote that “it might make more sense to speak of the rise of anti-Trinitarian thought concomitant with shifts in models of theological... Read more
Lossky summarizes the problem for which the doctrine of divine energies is the solution as follows: “If we were able tat a given moment to be united to the very essence of God and to participate in it in the very least degree, we should not at the moment be what we are, we should be God by nature.” Instead of being Trinity, God would become a “myriad of hypostases,” since “He would have as many hypostases as there would... Read more
INTRODUCTION Jesus’ final exhortations anticipate the eschatological discourse of chapters 24-25. Jesus is warning Israel that the only way her house – i.e., the temple – can survive is by hearing and keeping His words. By the time we get to chapter 24, it’s too late. Israel is doomed. THE TEXT “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because... Read more
Matthew 7:9-11: Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! As we saw in the sermon, these verses, in context, have to do with... Read more
Matthew 7:7: Ask and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened. In this final section of the sermon, Jesus warns us not to give holy things or precious things, to dogs and pigs. He is specifically warning Israel not to entrust themselves to the power of Rome. If they... Read more
Last week’s, also delayed because of internet troubles. Matthew 6:26: Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? Jesus addresses worry and anxiety about daily necessities by urging us to remember our Father’s care of His creation. Consider the birds, Jesus commands. Look at them. Think about them. Notice that they find sufficient food without... Read more
From last Sunday, delayed due to interruption of Internet service. Matthew 6:24: No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Today’s sermon was about wealth, money, treasures, and trusting our Father for our daily necessities. One of the central things that Jesus teaches is that money can become a master, dominating and... Read more
Edward Said helped launch post-colonial criticism of Austen, arguing that Sir Thomas Bertram’s expedition to Antigua, apparently accepted so casually by Austen and her characters, shows that she was an imperialist at heart. Simply by virtue of his standing in English society, Said argued, Sir Thomas has the right to extend his dominion to the other side of the world. This argument fails to recognize the importance of the disorder caused by Sir Thomas’s absence of Mansfield Park. And if... Read more
Critics say that Austen’s work is too restricted. But, as Julia Prewitt Brown says, if this is true, it’s hardly something that Austen would have been unaware of: “we must assume that Jane Austen was highly attuned to the unheroic implications of her subject from the beginning of her career.” After citing the opening lines of Northanger Abbey , Brown adds, “The sentimental novel is not the sole target here; Austen is challenging the Western tradition of heroism itself. The... Read more
Leithart
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In