Early on in his The World of the Gift , Jacques Godbout offers this intriguing vignette: “A retired civil servant, an atheist and rationalist, totally secular, does volunteer work with a religious order that cares for the poor. ‘You know, I receive more than I give,’ he is quick . . . . Continue Reading »
In his book on Dostoevsky, Rowan Williams neatly catches the complex intertwining of the love of self, other, and God: “To love the freedom of the other [that is, the otherness of the other] is also to love oneself appropriately - as an agent of God’s giving of liberty to the neighbor, . . . . Continue Reading »
John pronounces a blessing on those who “keep” the things written in the book (Revelation 1:3). That certainly includes “doing what the book requires,” but Revelation is not mainly a set of orders but an unveiling of Jesus. Keeping thhe words of the book includes but is not . . . . Continue Reading »
Revelation (1:1) opens by describing the conduit by which the apocalypse of Jesus gets to His slaves. There are two processes, fractally related. First, God the Father gives apocalypse to Jesus, who in turn gives it to the slaves: Father - Son - slaves. Apocalypse, unveiling, is the Father’s . . . . Continue Reading »
A few entries from the 1899 ABCs for Baby Patriots . C is for colonies Rightly we boast, That of all the great nations Great Britain has the most. D is for daring We show in the field Which makes every enemy Vanish or yield. E is for empire Where sun never sets; The larger we make it The bigger it . . . . Continue Reading »
God doesn’t send dreams, Aristotle argued. How did he know? If God were sending dreams, He would send them to a better sort of folk: “it is absurd to hold that it is God who sends such dreams, and yet that He sends them not to the best and wisest, but to any chance persons” and . . . . Continue Reading »
Luke is often opposed (as in Badiou) as a pro-Roman conservative over against the radical Paul. Rowe suggests an alternative, and far more convincing, reading of the politics of Acts: “On the one hand, Luke narrates the movement of the Christian mission into the gentile world as a collision . . . . Continue Reading »
“Be my witness” - so says Jesus to Paul. Witness of what? Paul never met Jesus in the flesh, didn’t see the crucifixion, didn’t go to the empty tomb. Jesus came to Him in a flash of light and a voice. Is that it? Kavin Rowe ( World Upside Down: Reading Acts in the . . . . Continue Reading »
In response to my critical comments about Hayek a few weeks ago, Jameson Graber writes to clarify Hayek’s views. The rest of this post is from Graber: I noticed recently that you wrote a blog post on free market economics , quoting Hayek’s views on social goals. I appreciate your point, . . . . Continue Reading »
Bruce Malina ( On the Genre and Message of Revelation: Star Visions and Sky Journeys ) interestingly places Revelation in the “genre” of astral prophecy. One of the consequences of this classification is to specify the social location of the prophecy. As Malina notes, “The role of . . . . Continue Reading »
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