In the Greek honor system, men prove themselves honorable and virtuous by defending women. Explaining Achilles’ reaction to Agamemnon, Peter Walcot writes that “The law of reciprocity applies: when insulted or injured the man of honour must retaliate in at least equal measure if . . . . Continue Reading »
As you’ll notice on the right of the page, my survey of the gospels, a sequel of sorts to House for My Name , will be available in November. You can check out the Amazon page by clicking on the cover icon. . . . . Continue Reading »
Gregory ( Against Eunomius , 3.3) insists that only a Trinitarian theology can truly affirm the goodness of God. He assumes the Scriptural titles for the Son - light, truth, life, glory - and asks whether the Father could ever have been without these goods. If He was once without the . . . . Continue Reading »
Gregory of Nyssa ( Against Eunomius , 1.15) attacks the notion that the Father has priority in time, and therefore in being, to the Son and Spirit. Of course, Gregory eventually says that intervals of time have no application to God’s life, but before that he challenges the notion that . . . . Continue Reading »
Evelyn Waugh’s Helena (Loyola Classics) doesn’t get Constantine quite right, but he has some very sharp observations on other fourth-century personalities and events. His description of the effect of Constantine’s conversion on Lactantius captures the euphoria of the moment: . . . . Continue Reading »
In the first volume of Jenson and Braaten’s Christian Dogmatics 2 Vol Set , Jenson highlights five features of Hellenistic religion, which he says also characterizes Greek philosophy. Of course, for Jenson, the central issue is time. First, the crucial question is, “Can it be that . . . . Continue Reading »
We typically think of Greeks as Apollonian and rational. We don’t think of Greeks as people concerned with pollution and purity. Like all ancient peoples, though, they were, as Robert Parker details in his wonderful Miasma: Pollution and Purification in Early Greek Religion . . . . Continue Reading »
Herod tells the wise men to search for the Child king, and when they find Him to “bring me word” ( apaggelo ) so that Herod too might worship. the verb becomes important at the end of Matthew’s gospel, when an aggelos appears at the open tomb, and both soldiers and women run . . . . Continue Reading »
Joseph of Genesis, son of Jacob, was a dreamer and a sage, an interpreter of dreams. He was a wise man. So too Joseph of Matthew, father of Jesus. The angel addresses him as “son of David” (Matthew 1:20), a title used almost exclusively of Solomon in the OT (1 Chr 29:23; 2 . . . . Continue Reading »
Matthew 1:18-2:23 sorts out into a neat chiasm: A. Joseph, angel, dream, Jesus born B. Wise men search for Jesus: to Herod C. Wise men visit Jesus: dream D. Joseph, dream flee to Egypt C’. Herod tricked by wise men B’. Herod kills children A’. Joseph, angel, dream, Jesus settles in . . . . Continue Reading »
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