Sacred Systems by Eric Kyle is tough going. He covers “systems” of personal transformation and spiritual formation from Philo through the Didache, Bonaventure, Erasmus and de Sales and William Law, to Dallas Willard. Kyle is interested in the “system” that each advocates . . . . Continue Reading »
Death, not sin, is the great problem for Israel’s patriarchs. There is remarkable little talk of “sin” in Genesis. Sin waits for Cain (4:7), the sin of Sodom rises up before the Lord (18:20), Abimelech sins against Abrhaham (20:6, 9), Joseph refuses to commit the sin of . . . . Continue Reading »
Each of the seven messages to the churches ends with a promised gift to the victors, those who overcome. These are (the numbers refer to the number of the letter):1. Eating from the wood of life in Paradise.2a. A crown of life.2b. Rescue from the second death.3a. Hidden manna.3b. White stone with a . . . . Continue Reading »
When Israel tried to reserve some manna and keep it overnight, it rotted and sprouted worms. Except on the Sabbath: On the eve of the Sabbath, they “rested” (nuach) the baked manna until morning and it was not rotted (Exodus 16:23-24). The manna rested as Yahweh rested (nuach) on the . . . . Continue Reading »
Beckett Remembering/Remembering Beckett, edited by James and Elizabeth Knowlson is a compilation of reminiscences by and about Samuel Beckett.The collection covers his entire life, from childhood through years of obscurity, to his later triumphs. It includes recollections from friends, . . . . Continue Reading »
In a 2010 piece in Theology Today, Leslie Goode summarizes some of the challenges posed to post-Girardian Christian apologetics and anthropology by Kathryn McClymond’s Beyond Sacred Violence.McClymond argues that violence is not a universal feature of sacrifice, and even where it is . . . . Continue Reading »
Oliver and Joan Lockwood O’Donovan pithily sum up Tertullian’s argument in De corona militis (From Irenaeus to Grotius, 24):“By concentrating on the particular issue of whether a Christian should wear the military chaplet on ceremonial occasions, it manages to take for granted . . . . Continue Reading »
Command, Clement of Alexandria wrote, involved “caution, risk taking, and the union of the two,” and these expressed themselves in words, deeds, or word-deeds. Moses was the great model of command, not only to Israel but to the Greeks (Stromateis, 1.24).Moses’ night march through . . . . Continue Reading »
In his wise contribution to the Blackwell Companion to Political Theology, RR Reno concludes that Hauerwas’s theology is “a thoroughgoing Christian liberalism” (314). This isn’t a criticism or a charge of inconsistency. Reno knows that Hauerwas “he rejects the . . . . Continue Reading »
Noah Kristula-Green responds to the politicization of the Lego Movie by, well, trying to score political points:“the film does play lip service to political tropes, but what really makes the film work is that it represents the highest form of capitalist expression: it is a . . . . Continue Reading »
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