At the outset of his The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society , Brad S. Gregory takes aim at Charles Taylor’s overly simplified portrait of the shift from the medieval “naive acknowledgment of the transcendent” to the “exclusive . . . . Continue Reading »
In a 2002 article in History of Religions , Bruce Lincoln reviews the revisionist theory of William “Oriental” Jones regarding the origins of languages and races. As much as his predecessors and contemporaries (such as Isaac Newton, whose History of Ancient Kingdoms - A Complete . . . . Continue Reading »
Stroumsa ends his pre-history of comparative religion scholarship ( A New Science: The Discovery of Religion in the Age of Reason , 160) with the observation that during the 19th century “the continuing degradation of the status of the Bible would dramatically weaken interest in the biblical . . . . Continue Reading »
A version of this post was swallowed into cyberspace and fully digested earlier today. A roughly equivalent re-posting follows. Modern concepts of civil religion arise, argues Guy Stroumsa ( A New Science: The Discovery of Religion in the Age of Reason ) from two sources: The Querelle des Rites . . . . Continue Reading »
Jesus’ numerous predictions concerning the coming destruction of Jerusalem, Edwards says ( The Miscellanies, 1153-1360 , #1316) demonstrate that Jesus is a prophet. Plus, in prophesying the end of Jerusalem, Jesus was also prophesying the end of the old order of worship and priesthood, and . . . . Continue Reading »
Edwards speculates ( The Miscellanies, 1153-1360 , #1236) that the dispersion of the Jews was so massive that it sent Jews all the way to China: “It is probable that some of the Israelites that had been carried into captivity penetrated as far as China, long before the Christian era; because . . . . Continue Reading »
Might Socrates and Plato have been inspired by God? Why not? asks Edwards ( The Miscellanies, 1153-1360 , #1162). After all, “Inspiration is not so high an honor and privilege as some are ready to think. It is no peculiar privilege of God’s special favorites. Many very bad men have been . . . . Continue Reading »
What are the chances that someone sometime in nearly every ancient culture decided that killing animals was a good way to worship their gods? What are the chances that this would be a near-universal practice without any tradition, any traditio /handing-over, of sacrificial rites? Aren’t the . . . . Continue Reading »
It’s often said that modernity begins with thinkers of purity like Descartes. At the First Things site, I review a book that tells a more complex and interesting story about early modern English culture . . . . . Continue Reading »
Jonathan Edwards summarized a widely held opinion when he claimed that Chinese language and civilization perpetuated the language and civilization of the immediate post-diluvian world: “Their language seems not to have been altered in the confusion of Babel. Their learning is reported to have . . . . Continue Reading »
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