Peter Singer ( Hegel: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) ) gives a neat summary of the paradoxes of desire in Hegel: “Desire appeared as the expression of the fact that self-consciousness needs an external object, and yet finds itself limited by anything that is outside . . . . Continue Reading »
A web summary of Lacan’s negative account of desire says, “In constructing our fantasy-version of reality, we establish coordinates for our desire; we situate both ourselves and our object of desire, as well as the relation between. As Slavoj Zizek puts it, ’ through fantasy, we . . . . Continue Reading »
“I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me,” says the bride in the Song of Songs (7:10). “Desire” is the same word used in Genesis 3:16 and 4:7, both of which describe a desire for authority, domination, rule, a threatening desire. The bridegroom of the Song . . . . Continue Reading »
We’re all deists. The design of the universe shows that a Great Intelligent Something is responsible for it. No, says Athanasius. The design of the universe is the impress of eternal wisdom on the creation. The cunning of creation doesn’t manifest “God,” . . . . Continue Reading »
Thomas writes that “to signify something by words or merely by the construction of images . . . yields nothing but the literal sense” and “poetic images refer to something other than themselves only so as to signify them; and so a signification of that sort goes no way beyond the . . . . Continue Reading »
Denys Turner notes that the Song of Songs presented challenges to the “minority” of medieval theologians who argued for a more rigorous grounding of spiritual in literal senses. For these, the text speaks literally, referring to specific events; and these events, as Thomas says, . . . . Continue Reading »
The distinction of image and likeness has been a common one in the history of theology, East and West, and in the West at least it overlaps with the nature/grace dualism. Image for Bonventure “denotes a kind of ‘shape,’ that is, a quantitative feature of quality or a . . . . Continue Reading »
The announcement of Obama’s Peace Prize was greeted with gasps, but on reflection it makes sense. Obama is, after all, our first Scandinavian President. . . . . Continue Reading »
Turner corrects a widespread misunderstanding of the Pseudo-Dionysian view of religious language. For the pseudo-Denys (Turner’s designation), everything comes from God and thus “every creature retains within it a trace of its divine source, every creature in some way reflects, or . . . . Continue Reading »
Denys Turner ( Eros and Allegory: Medieval Exegesis of the Song of Songs (Cistercian Studies Series) ) has the best summary I’ve read of the problems the doctrine of creation poses for any form of Platonism. First, Platonism has difficulty explaining how anything can exist other than God: . . . . Continue Reading »
Subscribe
Latest Issue
Support First Things
