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Writing

Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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City

The City of Cain

Not long ago, I heard these statistics about New York City: New York City is in $100 billion in debt. 20% of all NYC residents are on food stamps, which cost $250 million a month. 5% of NYC population are on disability, costing $252 million a month. Other assistance costs…

by Richard BledsoeJune 25, 2020
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Empire

Twenty-Five Theses on Empire

1. All political power is ambivalent. Vertical violence of “the state” tends to limit horizontal and contested power between people and between tribes. “The State” brings new oppression, but also a measure of new peace and unity. 2. All political formations are ambiguous like this: a strong family conquers weaker…

by John MilbankJune 23, 2020
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Coronavirus

Virtual Gnosticism and the Church – some disturbing thoughts about Covid19

Gnosticism by any other name would smell the same. But does the church have much of a theological sense of smell, these days, when it comes to the seductions of virtuality in our worshipping communities? Social isolation during a global pandemic makes good public health sense, but whether church should…

by Paul TysonJune 16, 2020
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American Culture

The Priorities of Priests and Protests

It is a remarkable thing, you know, this thing called priority. Just a few weeks ago, religious leaders were boldly asserting in their high-dollar online videos that it was too dangerous to return to worship and that we needed to listen to our political and health leaders. "They are the…

by Uri BritoJune 15, 2020
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James

Anger, Riots, Violence, & Justice: How the Epistle of James Came to be Written

Somewhere in the city of Jerusalem on a rooftop just a few years after the ascension of Jesus and the outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost. . . ". . . and just when are you guys going to live up to your ‘Sons of Thunder’ reputation? Huh? A lot…

by Jeff MeyersJune 9, 2020
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Proverbs

Lady Wisdom Eve

In my book, Solomon Says: Directives for Young Men ( Amazon , Kindle ) I mention that Solomon portrays wisdom as a woman. But I don’t ask (or answer!) why he did so. Solomon uses the figure of Lady Wisdom without apology or explanation: Wisdom cries aloud in the street,…

by Mark HorneJune 2, 2020

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Philosophy

Rousseau and Voltaire

Rosenstock-Huessy’s discussion of Voltaire and Rousseau depends on his prior discussion of the role of inspired literature in the formation of a nation. They are adherents to the revolutionary creed of literary inspiration, the “cult o f an inspired literature.” He compares the two to Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, for like…

January 25, 2007
History

Paris and French Nationhood

Rosenstock-Huessy deals with a number of interrelated issues in a section of Out of Revolution dealing with Paris and the French notion of nationhood: He talks about the establishment of Paris as the intellectual center of France and of Europe; about the division between Paris and Versailles as background to…

January 25, 2007

Calvin on Baptism again

A couple of thoughts on the Calvin quotations I posted yesterday, inspired by a reader’s response. 1) Calvin appeals to his doctrine of “accommodation” to explain why the sign of baptism is necessary. God does speak in ways we can grasp; if that’s all accommodation is, fine. But it often…

January 25, 2007

Father and Son

Tom Smail’s Like Father, Like Son: The Trinity Imaged in Our Humanity (Eerdmans 2005) has a lot going for it. Written for a general Christian readership, it reflects a thorough familiarity with both tradition and contemporary work on the Trinity, and applies Trinitarian patterns to human life in interesting ways.…

January 25, 2007

Timely words

Stahmer offers this useful summary of Rosenstock-Huessy’s and Rosenzweig’s attack on “objectivity”: “For J. G. Hamann, and for all those who have accepted the sacramental qualities inherent in the frailty and tentativeness of human speech, the ambiguities and relativity of history could not possibly be denied. Both Rosenstock-Huessy and Rosenzweig…

January 24, 2007

Ahead of the Curve

In their capacity as Sprachdenkern - Speech-thinkers, Rosenstock-Huessy and Rosenzweig anticipated a number of developments in philosophy, theology, and hermeneutics. Stahmer writes, “Both Rosenzweig and Rosenstock-Huessy, but most especially the latter, can now be seen to have been hermeneutical pioneers who anticipated, by many years, the work of Martin Heidegger,…

January 24, 2007

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