Drawing from Pindar’s seventh Olympian Ode, Barbara Kowalzig (Singing for the Gods, 230-1) argues that the poem provides an etiology for the fireless sacrifice established for Athena at Rhodes. Why a sacrifice without fire, given that “as is nowhere clearer than in Aristophanes’ . . . . Continue Reading »
Israel gets its first taste of war after the exodus when the Amalekites attack the women, children, and stragglers (Exodus 17; Deuteronomy 25:17-19). Yahweh vows to make war against those who make war on the weak, until He blots out “the memory of Amalek from under heaven” (Deuteronomy . . . . Continue Reading »
The letter to the angel of Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6) is smoothly cohesive in theme. Jesus begins with a rebuke to the angel at Sardis, charging that despite his reputation for life he is in fact dead. Death and sleep are merged in verse 2, where Jesus calls the dead to life with a “wake . . . . Continue Reading »
Jesus has the key of David to open and shut (Revelation 3:8). He puts an “open door” before the angel of Philadelphia. Which way is the angel to go: In or out? The passage is typically understood with reference to mission. The angel is pictured on the inside of some enclosed . . . . Continue Reading »
The always-fascinating Oliver Sacks takes a break from his human patients to review several recent and old books on earthworms, jelly-fish, and plants in the NYRB. One is Daniel Chamovitz’s recent What A Plant Knows.Sacks writes, “We all distinguish between plants and animals. . . . . Continue Reading »
John sees two signs in heaven (Revelation 12), a woman and a dragon. Sharply different as they are, John’s language brings out their similarities.1) Both are called semeion, vv. 1, 3.2) John uses the passive ophthe to introduce both, vv. 1, 3.3) Both are signs in heaven (en to ourano, vv. 1, . . . . Continue Reading »
In Who’s Afraid of Relativism?, his recent brief for Christian pragmatism as a philosophy of contingency and creaturehood, James KA Smith summarizes a wonderful little analogy from Wittgenstein: “Language [is] a city. While referentialist theories of meaning might recognize . . . . Continue Reading »
Jennifer Lahl of the Center for Bioethics and Culturewill show her latest documentary film, Breeders: A Subclass of Women?, at Beeson Divinity School, Birmingham, on the evening of Saturday, April 5. The event is co-sponsored by Trinity Houseand Beeson Divinity School.For more information, . . . . Continue Reading »
J.N. Adams takes up a classic question about the history of Latin in his Social Variation and the Latin Language: How did the Romance languages emerge from Latin?It’s been thought that the Romance languages came from changes in Latin pronunciation and grammar at the lower levels of . . . . Continue Reading »
1 Samuel 14 records the second of Saul’s three falls: He sins when he sacrifices impetuously without waiting for Samuel (ch. 13), when he attacks Jonathan for eating during a battle (ch. 14), when he refuses to carry out the ban against the Amalekites (ch. 15).Chapter 14 is also about . . . . Continue Reading »
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