If hope is directed to things that we don’t yet see or possess (and it necessarily is, Hebrews 11), how can what we also already possess what we hope for? There are a number of ways to answer that question, but Segundo Galilea puts it nicely in his Spirituality of Hope : “The project of . . . . Continue Reading »
Frank Smith ( Insult to Intelligence: The Bureaucratic Invasion of Our Classrooms ) says that authors teach children to read: “Not just any authors, but the authors of the stories that children love to read, that children often know by heart before they begin to read the story. This . . . . Continue Reading »
John Paul II points out that Jesus encourages us to penetrate past the boundary of the fall to the state of innocence: In the beginning it was not so. How can we do this? John Paul II suggests that the “redemption of the body” gives us this access. If it were not for the . . . . Continue Reading »
Robert Jenson writes, “In that an eternity is always some union of past and future, every possible eternity will be of one of two broad kinds: a Persistence of the Beginning, or an Anticipation of the End. Moreover, essential time is future time. It is because we face a . . . . Continue Reading »
I am a postmillennial, and postmils like to speculate about the long view. What is the church and world going to be like after another several millennia of evangelism, baptism, teaching, discipline, Eucharistic merriment? My answers to that tend to be: 1) The state of things, over time . . . . Continue Reading »
In a couple earlier posts, I’ve commented on the “intrinsicism” in Athanasius. One additional point: Rather than seeing intrinstic/extrinsic as metaphysical opposites, Athanasius’ sees the question in a redemptive-historical, eschatological framework. . . . . Continue Reading »
It’s common sense that origin determines destiny. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and remains so; that which is born of earth returns to the earth. This is the common sense that the gospel subverts. Men originated from earth are remade after the image of the heavenly man; . . . . Continue Reading »
Athanasius regularly compares the Arians to Jews and Judaizers. This is not merely name-calling. The obvious comparison is that both Jews and Arians deny that Jesus is the eternal Son. But something more subtle is going on here too, perhaps: If the Son is not eternal and equal to the . . . . Continue Reading »
Yoder argues that from the time of the Babylonian captivity, the Jews developed a proto-“free church” model of community life. True in some respects. Jews didn’t have their own polity. But I’ve got doubts if that’s a fair characterization of Jews in and after the . . . . Continue Reading »
Drake notes that the “one unwritten, but never to be violated, rule of the game of empire was this: although the Senate could be alienated with impunity so long as the loyalty of the troops was secure, it was impossible to alienate both Senate and military and still survive.” It’s . . . . Continue Reading »
Subscribe
Latest Issue
Support First Things
