Jody Bottum nicely captures the unclassifiability of the new Pope: “He is an advocate of the poor who has consistently opposed the Argentinian government’s ostensible programs for the poor. A social activist who rejects most social reform. A churchman who refused many of the elaborate trappings . . . . Continue Reading »
The second installment of Pastor Ralph Smith’s series of studies in Deuteronomy is up on the Trinity House site this morning. . . . . Continue Reading »
What other institution on the planet produces as many impressive old men as the Catholic church? Francis is 76. Joseph Ratzinger was nearly 80 when he became Benedict XVI. Not yet 60, John Paul II was a kid when he started the second-longest Papacy in history, but he was 85 when he died. It . . . . Continue Reading »
Even the inattentive see that Jesus’ ministry focused on what He described as the coming of the “reign of God.” In his recently republished The Aims of Jesus , Ben F. Meyer puts some concreteness to that by emphasizing “that the reign of God as imminent meant the imminent . . . . Continue Reading »
In his contribution to The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature , Joseph Wittreich examines the apocalyptic elements of King Lear . Shakespeare doesn’t hold, he thinks, to traditionally Christian views of the end, nor does he want to turn the apocalyptic framework into a . . . . Continue Reading »
In their The Apocalyptic Imagination in Medieval Literature , Richard Emmerson and Ronald Herzman find apocalypse in unexpected places. Like Chaucer. For the medieval mind, any pilgrimage evoked the pilgrimage of the soul toward heaven, and The Canterbury Tales is no different: “For the . . . . Continue Reading »
Someone recently referred me to Delbert L. Wiens’s Stephen’s Sermon and the Structure of Luke-Acts . It looks wonderful. He has a triple thesis: First, that Stephen’s speech is “a politike in the broadest sense, a sociological and political account of the levels and . . . . Continue Reading »
In his wonderful Jesus and the Victory of God , NT Wright compiles all the passages where Jesus warns of an impending catastrophe, within “this generation.” It’s a long list. Someone needs to do the same with the rest of the New Testament. (Andrew Perriman’s The Future of . . . . Continue Reading »
Matthew doesn’t tell the parable of the Prodigal Son, but he might has well have. He records the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, which has the same structure and point. Some laborers work through the heat of the day, some come at the 11th hour and work only one hour. But each . . . . Continue Reading »
Jeremiah tells the exiles that they will be conquered by Yahweh’s “servant” Nebuchadnezzar and will be under Babylon for 70 years (Jeremiah 25:8-11). When the time’s up, Yahweh will punish Babylon and recompense them for their deeds (vv. 12-14). In preparation for this . . . . Continue Reading »
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