Eucharistic meditation

Exodus 12:7-8: And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. . . . . Continue Reading »

Causality and Pure Nature

Jacob Schmutz’s contribution to Surnaturel: A Controversy at the Heart of the Twentieth-Century Thomistic Thought (Faith and Reason: Studies in Catholic Theology and Philosophy) is a dense exploration of the development of the theology of pure nature in the context of shifting notions of . . . . Continue Reading »

Mirror and Lens

The relation of language and thought has been a contested issue in philosophy and linguistics for several centuries.  Guy Deutscher’s contribution ( Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages ) sorts through what we know and what we don’t know . . . . Continue Reading »

Bride Price

My colleague Toby Sumpter suggests that the plunder Israel takes from Egypt is a “bride price” as well as the proper gift for a manumitted slave. The “bride price” idea works.  Pharaoh has, like the Pharaoh of Abram’s day, claimed a bride for himself, . . . . Continue Reading »

Totus Christus

Is Christ ever without His body? Might as well ask, Is Christ ever without His Spirit?  The answer to that is, obviously, No.  Anointing with the Spirit is what makes Christ Christ. And the Spirit gathers and knits together what He gathers. Hence: To say “Christ is anointed by the . . . . Continue Reading »

Treading the trees

Jesus comes to Jerusalem riding over palm branches.  He is the promised king, and marches over the treetops into Jerusalem, up to the temple. When the disciples hear the sound of the Wind-filled Jesus in the tops of the trees, they will know that Yahweh has gone before them (cf. 2 Samuel . . . . Continue Reading »

Dogs of Egypt, the Sequel

A reader, Daniel Hoffman, comments on my post about the dogs of Egypt: “A while back I saw it pointed out somewhere (I am pretty sure it was John Currid in his book ‘Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament’, but I don’t have it on hand to check) that the Egyptian god of the dead . . . . Continue Reading »

Body, Beast, Ground

If Israel is faithful, Yahweh promises to make her triply fruitful.  Deuteronomy 28:11 uses the word “fruit” three times (bizarrely translated in different ways by the NASB): fruit of the womb, fruit of the beast, fruit of the ground.  Children, animals, plants will all . . . . Continue Reading »

Dogs of Egypt

On the first Passover night, Yahweh promises that “against any of the sons of Israel a dog shall not sharpen his tongue, whether against man or beast” (Exodus 11:7).  By implication, dogs will be sharpening their tongues against the Egyptians.  Dogs are urban scavengers in the . . . . Continue Reading »

Exhortation

In today’s sermon text, Yahweh tells Moses that He performs signs so that Israel can recount His works in the ears of “sons and sons of sons.”  A few verses later, Yahweh says that He brings more locusts than “your fathers and the fathers of your fathers have . . . . Continue Reading »