Jean Baudrillard ( America ) observed that the mystery of California, its mystique and myth, are rooted in its desert setting: “The mythical power of California consists in this mixture of extreme disconnection and vertiginous mobility captured in the setting, the hyperreal scenario of . . . . Continue Reading »
One of the themes of Jenkins’s The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia—and How It Died is that Christianization is reversible: Churches die. How to account for it? Jenkins He cites on Payne Smith, a . . . . Continue Reading »
In a 2007 article in NTS , Martinus de Boer carefully examines Paul’s argument in Galatians 4, armed with the assumption that stoicheia somehow retains its original meaning, referring to the four elements of ancient Greek physics. His conclusion is: “the phrase ta stoicheia tou kosmou . . . . Continue Reading »
In the aforementioned article, Arnold notes that “in the Greek Magical Papyri, the term stoicheia is used most commonly in connection witht he stars and/or the spirit entities, or gods, they represent. In a related sense, stoicheia was also used to refer to the 36 astral decans that . . . . Continue Reading »
In a 1996 article in Novum Testamentum , Clinton Arnold argues that the stoicheia (“elementary principles,” Galatians 4:3 and elsewhere) are demons. His arguments in favor of a personal understanding of the stoicheia are strong if not entirely persuasive, but his argument . . . . Continue Reading »
Cavanaugh points out that until the middle of the 20th century, American law regarded religion as a social glue rather than a provocation to civil war. The “social glue” view is of course widespread in sociology (from Durkheim) and anthropology. So, why is Western religion . . . . Continue Reading »
Friedman notes that the end of major wars frequently evokes an unwarranted euphoria. Every war is considered not only a war to end wars, but a war that has ended war: After every major war - what we might call systemic war in which the entire international system convulsed - there was a . . . . Continue Reading »
A lot has happened since George Friedman published his America’s Secret War: Inside the Hidden Worldwide Struggle Between America and Its Enemies in 2003 (with a paperback edition in 2005). Still, Friedman’s book is the most satisfying treatment of recent American history that . . . . Continue Reading »
In answer to a question from a former student about the relations of Jews and Gentiles in Old and New, I offered these points as coordinates for that question: 1. Yes, Gentiles were saved under the Old Covenant, and Israel’s contact with an success with Gentiles increased as time went on. . . . . Continue Reading »
In his The Suffering of the Impassible God: The Dialectics of Patristic Thought (Oxford Early Christian Studies) , Paul Gavrilyuk challenges the “fall into Hellenism” thesis especially as it pertains to the patristic use of the notion of impassibility. Early in the book, relying . . . . Continue Reading »
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