In the course of examining various approaches to religious pluralism in Ways of Meeting and the Theology of Religions , David Cheetham cites Colin Gunton’s criticisms of Augustine’s Trinitarian theology. While he agrees with Gunton that human beings are “dialogic” he . . . . Continue Reading »
The title of Mark Edwards’s Origen Against Plato bluntly gives the gist of the book. Contrary to the popular wisdom, Origen was not a Platonist, denying all of the premises of the Platonism of his time - that objects are defined because they participate in forms that dwell in an incorporeal . . . . Continue Reading »
In his study of Image, Word and God in the Early Christian Centuries , Mark Edwards contrasts the place of text and language in early Christianity and Platonism. For Christians, Scripture is “an archive of salvific truths that could not have been known otherwise,” while for Platonism . . . . Continue Reading »
Sun, moon and stars are created to rule. Abram is told that his children will be like stars. That means, they will be raised up to rule. Abram’s children are kings. We can be more specific. Sun, moon, and stars are created to rule day and night, to be the governors of time. Abram’s . . . . Continue Reading »
It’s a common assumption today that literary structure and factual accuracy are at odds with one another. If a text displays some artistry, it’s a signal that we shouldn’t take it seriously as a historical source. The assumption is baseless on the face of things. All historians . . . . Continue Reading »
Pastor Jeff Meyers writes to correct my quotation of Kuyper on Christian conversions to Islam, and points me to Rodney Stark’s The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World’s Largest Religion (204-5). Stark disputes the “widespread belief that Muslim . . . . Continue Reading »
Why the firm? Ronald Coase, a Nobel economist who died last week at the age of 102, was among the first to ask the question, in a 1937 article on the nature of the firm . His starting point was to notice the discrepancy between the way economic systems were described in theory and the reality of . . . . Continue Reading »
Wittgenstein said ( Philosophical Investigations (3rd Edition) , 363), “We are so much accustomed to communication through speaking, in conversation, that it looks to us as if the whole point of communication lay in this: someone else grasps the sense of my words—which is something . . . . Continue Reading »
Fearing Israel, the Gibeonites put on disguises, pretend to be strangers from a distant land, and deceive Joshua into making a covenant with them (Joshua 9). Old wineskins and dry bread prove they came from a far country. Without consulting Yahweh, Joshua swears to protect them and they become . . . . Continue Reading »
When David returns to his Philistine outpost in Ziklag, he finds it demolished and empty (1 Samuel 30). Amalekites have attacked and taken all the women and children captive. While in pursuit, David’s men come across an Egyptian in the field. Like the hosts in the Odyssey , David feeds first . . . . Continue Reading »
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