Strayer argues that city-states and empires both had their problems, and that “The European states which emerged after 1100 combined, to some extent, the strengths of both the empires and the city-states. They were large enough and powerful enough to have excellent changes for survival - some . . . . Continue Reading »
Gregory VII won his battle, but lost the war. Joseph Strayer ( On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State (Princeton Classic Editions) ) notes that “by separating itself so clearly from lay governments, the Church unwittingly sharpened concepts about the nature of secular authority. . . . . Continue Reading »
Nietzsche in Beyond Good and Evil : “Philosophers . . . have wanted to furnish the rational ground of morality - and every philosopher hitherto has believed he has furnished this rational ground; morality itse,f however, was taken as a ‘given.’ . . . it is precisely because they . . . . Continue Reading »
A pregnant paragraph from Gellner. He discusses the challenges of specialized education in traditional societies, where specialists are “viewed ambivalently”: “In the end, modern society resolves this conundrum by turning everyone into a cleric, by turning this potentially . . . . Continue Reading »
Gellner provides a stimulating description of the interconnection of economic, political, cultural, and intellectual components of “industrial society,” which for him is a virtual equivalent of “modern society.” He begins with the Weberian description of modern society as a . . . . Continue Reading »
Specialization and division of labor is often seen as one of the marks of modern society. Ernest Gellner ( Nations and Nationalism (New Perspectives on the Past) ) notes that the situation is more complicated. There are, he observes, specialists in complex agrarian societies (like medieval Europe), . . . . Continue Reading »
God’s work in and with Israel is the pattern and prototype for His work in and with all nations. How far can we press the analogy? Babel unified the nations but they were dispersed. Yahweh chose Abram to launch a counter-Babel movement, and over the next half-millennium slowly, achingly . . . . Continue Reading »
John 1:14: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. God doesn’t need the incarnation any more than He needs the world. He would be the same infinitely joyful, infinitely lively and infinitely satisfied God if we had never existed and if Jesus had never been born. God doesn’t need the . . . . Continue Reading »
It’s often said that the ancients couldn’t conceive of the incarnation because they couldn’t conceive of the infinite inhabiting the finite. The real problem was more fundamental: The ancients couldn’t conceive of anything truly infinite. An infinite thing has no boundaries; . . . . Continue Reading »
Yahweh appears to Job in a whirlwind and challenges Job by reminding Him of His infinite creative power. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” He asks. “Who set its measurements? Where were you, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God . . . . Continue Reading »
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