We speak blithely of modernity and the Enlightenment, as if the mere writing of a treatise suddenly changes the way people think. Margaret C. Jacob has spent a good part of her career retracing the conduits by which atomistic and mechanistic conceptions of the universe became part of the common . . . . Continue Reading »
Stratford Caldecott explains the logic of self-giving within the Triune life ( The Radiance of Being: Dimensions of Cosmic Christianity , 110-111): “it is the Father, not the Essence, who gives, but the Father is the Essence, or not -other than the Essence, and what is given also is the . . . . Continue Reading »
In his contribution to John Paul II on Science and Religion: Reflections on the New View from Rome , T.F. Torrance claims that Maxwell’s investigations into field phenomena arose from theology, specifically from a Trinitarian dissatisfaction with Newton’s universe: “Clerk . . . . Continue Reading »
Psalm 79 is a lament over the destruction of Jerusalem. The temple is defiled, the city ruined (v. 1). It is a macabre sacrifice: Bodies are left for the birds and beasts, and blood flows like water (vv. 2-3). And Israel’s enemies who have carried out this devastating taunt Israel and Yahweh . . . . Continue Reading »
Typology is not decorative icing on the Old Testament cake. Reading the Old Testament typologically is fundamental to New Testament theology . . . . . Continue Reading »
“God is Judge,” says Asaph (Psalm 75:7), and the rest of the Bible agrees. As Judge, He doesn’t just render verdicts. He raises horns (vv. 4-5); He cuts off the horns of power and lifts the horns of the righteous (v. 10). Exaltation and humiliation is His job (v. 6). as Judge, He . . . . Continue Reading »
Miles Hollingworth’s Saint Augustine of Hippo: An Intellectual Biography is an odd intellectual biography. He includes many generous quotations from Augustine, but Hollingworth sprinkles in references to Frantz Fanon, Whitehead, Cecil Day Lewis, C.S. Lewis and many other modern writers along . . . . Continue Reading »
Zechariah 5:3-4 threatens a curse to those who steal and those who swear falsely. It’s a somewhat unusual combination. Perhaps the implied scenario is this: A thief steals, he is questioned about his theft, and he swears falsely that he did not steal. His theft is compounded by an oath . . . . Continue Reading »
In response to his brother’s request, Photius, ninth-century Patriarch of Constantinople, write the Bibliotheca , which contained brief summaries and reviews of 279 books of theology, history, grammar, and literature. Among other things, it gives a glimpse of what an educated ninth-century . . . . Continue Reading »
As Raymond Van Dam points out ( Remembering Constantine at the Milvian Bridge ), one of Zosimus’s main complaints against Constantine was that he stopped the Secular Games ( Ludi Saeculares ), founded in 17 BC by Augustus and celebrated every saeculum (110 years) since. “Games” . . . . Continue Reading »
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