Buttiglione and Europe

The European Parliament’s opposition to the nomination of philosopher Rocco Buttiglione for the position of justice minister on the European Commission is noteworthy for a number of reasons. As Christopher Caldwell points out in the Novemeber 15 issue of The Weekly Standard , this is the . . . . Continue Reading »

Eucharistic Meditation, November 14

Revelation 19:7 The beginning of Solomon?s sin was intermarriage, marriage to unbelieving, pagan, idolatrous wives and concubines. As I noted in the sermon, there are consistent warnings about this throughout the Scriptures, from Genesis to Deuteronomy to Kings to Ezra-Nehemiah to Corinthians. . . . . Continue Reading »

Exhortation, November 14

Scripture has a lot to say about the blessings of old age. ?The gray head,?Ethe Proverb says, ?is a crown of glory; it is found in the way of righteousness.?E According to another Proverb, the elderly have another crown: ?Grandchildren are the crown of old men.?E The Psalmist says that the . . . . Continue Reading »

Sacrifice and Worship

INTRODUCTION Last week, we looked at some NT texts that used the ?ceremonial law?Eof the Levitical system as a guide for the life and worship of the church. It?s clear that the apostles did not believe that the ?ceremonial law?Eis ?merely typological,?Efulfilled in Jesus?Edeath and resurrection, . . . . Continue Reading »

Successful Disobedience

Jonah obeyed God’s commission, and preached successfully to Nineveh. They all repented in sackcloth. Earlier, though, Jonah DISOBEYED God’s commission, and preached successfully to the sailors on the ship. They all feared Yahweh and sacrificed and took vows. It appears that disobedient . . . . Continue Reading »

Language of Food

In his Teaching Company lectures on Chaucer Seth Lerer notes the ethnic and class distinction between terms for game and animals and the terms for the food produced from the game. Deer, cow, lamb, pig are all Anglo-Saxon; venison, beef, mutton, and pork are all French. The language traces the . . . . Continue Reading »

Brain Death

Caveat: I am no scientist. If details of the following are in error, please let me know. Brain death is one of the conceptual foundations of organ transplantation. If the person from whom the surgeon takes a beating heart is not dead before surgery, he will be dead after and the surgeon will be . . . . Continue Reading »

Justification and the Gaze

A thought inspired by Oswald Bayer’s Living By Faith: Justification and Sanctification : The doctrine of justification has something ?EI know not what ?Eto say to the postmodern suspicion of “the objectifying gaze.” Justification is fundamentally about the gaze of God, about who . . . . Continue Reading »

Trinitivium

Luther writes: “The Father in divine things is Grammatica, for he gives the Word and is the pure fountainhead from which, if one may so speak, floweth good, excellent, pure speech. Ths Son is Dialectica; for He giveth the arrangement whereby a thing should be set in good order of succession . . . . Continue Reading »

Translation, 1 Kings 11

Now the King Shlomoh loved women, Foreign ones, Many. And the daughter of Pharaoh. Moabiyyot Ammanoyyot Adomyyot Tzedniyyot Chittiyyot From the nations which Yahweh said to the sons of Israel, ?You shall not enter into them And they shall not enter into you. Truly they will turn away your heart . . . . Continue Reading »