In Hebrew, the word nadib does double duty. It describes the “willing” spirit that inspires the people to donate to the tabernacle construction (Exodus 35:5), and the willing spirit that David hopes Yahweh will create in him (Psalm 51:14). It means generous, liberal. At the . . . . Continue Reading »
On the First Things web site today, they’ve posted a little article of mine on Rosenstock-Huessy, in memory of his death, February 24, 1973. You can find it here: http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2010/02/fathers-and-sons . . . . Continue Reading »
Some conservative commentators on the Song (e.g., Christopher Mitchell) are reluctant to admit hat the Song plays off pagan mythology, poetry, and iconography. But the evidence provided by other commentators (such as Keel) is overwhelming: The Song does make use of standard ANE love lyrics . . . . Continue Reading »
The bride’s description of her lover is a description of a statue: He has a head of gold (v. 11), hands of gold adorned with beryl (v. 14), an abdomen of ivory with sapphires (v. 14), and legs of alabaster set in pedestals of gold (v. 15). This conjures up the temple and the tabernacle, . . . . Continue Reading »
Andre LaCocque ( Romance, She Wrote: A Hermeneutical Essay on Song of Songs ) offers an intriguing interpretation of Song of Songs 6:12-13, well-known as one of the most difficult sections of the Song, a passage over which other commentators frequently despair. Through a series of verbal . . . . Continue Reading »
The lover sets the banner of love over his beloved (2:4), and then the bride declares that her lover is a banner prominent among ten thousand (5:10). Both use military imagery; the banner is a military standard. But then the imagery works the other way, and the bride is bannered: as awesome . . . . Continue Reading »
Who are the daughters of Zion in the Song? Literally, they are the bride’s “bridesmaids” who sometimes verge on being the bride’s rivals. They might also be cities of Israel. As the capital, Jerusalem is the Bride, but the other cities that serve and honor . . . . Continue Reading »
In his Theology of the Body Explained: A Commentary on John Paul II’s , Christopher West perceptively notes that John Paul II cut through “the false dichotomy between the typically labeled ‘liberal’ concern for social justice and the ‘conservative’ concern for . . . . Continue Reading »
John Paul II again: “the resurrection of Christ is the final and fullest word of the self-revelation of the living God as ‘God not of the dead but of the living’ . . . . It is the final and fullest confirmation of the truth about God, who from the beginning has expressed himself . . . . Continue Reading »
In discussion Jesus reply to the Sadducees in Matthew 19, John Paul II makes this brief comment abut the meaning of covenant: “Although, due to sin, bodily death has become man’s lot and access to the tree of Life . . . was denied to him . . . , nevertheless, when the living God enters . . . . Continue Reading »
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