In the “how other people live” category: Hernando de Soto ( The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else ) argues that the key obstacle to Third World prosperity is the invisibility of their assets, and the assets are invisible because property . . . . Continue Reading »
How do we sense objects? Our instincts tell us that objects are just there, waiting for us to come along to sense them. Augustine’s instincts were otherwise. He admitted that “the sense does not proceed from the body that is seen but from the body of the sentient living . . . . Continue Reading »
Augustine’s trinitarian account of love is often understood as a purely formal correspondence: Love requires three - the lover, the beloved, and the love itself - and, whaddya know?, there are three Persons in the God who is love. Augustine sometimes sounds like that: “Love means loving . . . . Continue Reading »
“Classical theism” is supposed to have given us a static, immobile God. On the contrary: One of Athanasius’ central complaints against the Arians is that they denied the inherent fruitfulness, generative power, and creativity of God. If the Son is not eternal, . . . . Continue Reading »
INTRODUCTION Jesus goes to a garden to reverse Adam’s sin. Instead of seizing fruit, the Last Adam submits to His Father and drinks the cup. In the end, all His helpers – His Eve – flee, and He is left alone to face His accusers. THE TEXT “Then Jesus said to them, . . . . Continue Reading »
When Jesus announces the betrayal by Judas at the Passover, He alludes to Psalm 41:9. The one who dipped his hand with me in the dish, Jesus says, betrays Him; centuries earlier, David had written, “My close friend, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against . . . . Continue Reading »
Given its prominence in the NT, it’s striking that the LXX rarely speaks of “breaking bread.” One of the few times the phrase occurs is in Jeremiah 16:7, where, strikingly, it is joined to a statement about a “cup of consolation.” Broken bread and cup is . . . . Continue Reading »
Matthew 26:17-19 is a chiastically ordered pericope, centered on Jesus’ announcement that His “time is at hand” and that He intends to do the Passover. A. Disciples approach: prepare pascha ? B. Jesus commands: Go to city C. My time is at hand; do pascha B’. Disciples did as . . . . Continue Reading »
My co-pastor Toby Sumpter wondered whether Matthew was up to something in describing the first day of the feast as the “first of unleavened” ( te prote ton azumon , 26:17). It seems so. The other gospels don’t use the same phrase; Mark says “first day” and . . . . Continue Reading »
Through much of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is surrounded by multitudes who marvel at His teaching and works (5:1; 7:28; 9:8; 12:23; 13:2; etc.). They marvel all the way up to His battles in the temple (21:46; 22:33). The last time He teaches a multitude is in chapter 23 (v. 1). After . . . . Continue Reading »
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