Thomas writes that “to signify something by words or merely by the construction of images . . . yields nothing but the literal sense” and “poetic images refer to something other than themselves only so as to signify them; and so a signification of that sort goes no way beyond the . . . . Continue Reading »
Denys Turner notes that the Song of Songs presented challenges to the “minority” of medieval theologians who argued for a more rigorous grounding of spiritual in literal senses. For these, the text speaks literally, referring to specific events; and these events, as Thomas says, . . . . Continue Reading »
The distinction of image and likeness has been a common one in the history of theology, East and West, and in the West at least it overlaps with the nature/grace dualism. Image for Bonventure “denotes a kind of ‘shape,’ that is, a quantitative feature of quality or a . . . . Continue Reading »
The announcement of Obama’s Peace Prize was greeted with gasps, but on reflection it makes sense. Obama is, after all, our first Scandinavian President. . . . . Continue Reading »
Turner corrects a widespread misunderstanding of the Pseudo-Dionysian view of religious language. For the pseudo-Denys (Turner’s designation), everything comes from God and thus “every creature retains within it a trace of its divine source, every creature in some way reflects, or . . . . Continue Reading »
Denys Turner ( Eros and Allegory: Medieval Exegesis of the Song of Songs (Cistercian Studies Series) ) has the best summary I’ve read of the problems the doctrine of creation poses for any form of Platonism. First, Platonism has difficulty explaining how anything can exist other than God: . . . . Continue Reading »
The folks at First Things published an article of mine on secularization in their “On the Square” space yesterday, September 30. . . . . Continue Reading »
Mike Bull is an graphic designer in the wonderfully named Katoomba, New South Wales, who writes about the Bible. He’s produced a massive “biblical theology of the whole Christ” entitled Totus Christus . There are a lot of juicy details here, but the overall scheme is to . . . . Continue Reading »
In a 1996 article, Angel Manuel Rodriguez offers a close structural analysis of the day of coverings rite in Leviticus 16. Overall, he finds that the chapter is a chiasm: “Yahweh said to Moses” ——- “And Yahweh said to Moses” |A Aaron should not go into most . . . . Continue Reading »
Leviticus 23 has five speeches of Yahweh: A. Sabbath, Passover, Unleavened Bread, vv 1-8 B. First Sheaf, Pentecost, Gleaning, vv 9-22 C. Trumpets, vv 23-26 B’. Day of Coverings, vv 26-32 A’. Booths, vv 33-44 Several links in this structure are worth noting. First, the chapter begins and . . . . Continue Reading »
Subscribe
Latest Issue
Support First Things
