In her essay, Pickstock notes the synaesthetic biblical exhortation to “taste and see.” It’s a regular biblical theme, not only in the Psalm 34. Adam and Eve taste and see. So does Jonathan. So do the disciples on the road to Emmaeus. So do we, each week as the Lord’s table, . . . . Continue Reading »
Catherine Pickstock’s contribution to the aforementioned volume on Paul explores the relation of worship ad the senses. She begins with the Pascalian observation that human beings are between beasts and angels, but rather than seeing this as a tragic failure of human nature, Pickstock rightly . . . . Continue Reading »
Nearly every student of Israel and the ANE emphasizes the uniqueness of Israel’s aniconic worship. Explaining the significance of it is much more difficult. As Ronald Hendel summarizes ( CBQ 1988), scholars have offered several rationales for the exclusion of images from Israel’s . . . . Continue Reading »
Exodus 12:42: “It is a night to be guarded for Yahweh for having brought them out of the land of Egypt; this night is for Yahweh, to be guarded by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations. Exodus 12 cannot remind us often enough that the Passover took place at night. Eat the flesh . . . . Continue Reading »
Exodus 12:43, 45, 48: This is the ordinance of the Passover: no son of a stranger is to eat of it. A sojourner or hired servant shall not eat of it. But if a stranger sojourns with you, and celebrates the Passover to Yahweh, let all his males be circumcised. Passover is for Israel and for Israel . . . . Continue Reading »
Exodus 12:25-27: It will come to pass when you come to the land which the LORD will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service. And it shall be, when your children say to you, What do you mean by this service? that you shall say, It is the Passover . . . . Continue Reading »
Exodus 12:7-8: And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. . . . . Continue Reading »
Exodus 10:4-5: Tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the earth; and they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you . . . . Continue Reading »
Gregory charges Eunomius (11.5) with undermining the efficacy of sacraments. Eunomius claims, “we, in agreement with holy and blessed men; affirm that the mystery of godliness does not consist in venerable names, nor in the distinctive character of customs . . . . Continue Reading »
A student, Heather Denigan, is working on Emily Dickinson, and pointed me to this remarkable poem about baptism: I’m ceded, I’ve stopped being theirs; The name they dropped upon my face With water, in the country church, Is finished using now, And they can put it with my dolls, My . . . . Continue Reading »
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