Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
My copy of Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary (1976: not so new, really) defines obscene as (1) "disgusting to the senses; repulsive" and (2) "abhorrent to morality or virtue; specif: designed to incite lust or depravity." Definitions such as this serve a useful purpose only when there is agreement on what…
An Overview Here begins a series of studies in the Abomination of Desolation, or Desolating Sacrilege. This month and next I shall set out an overview of what I regard as the best interpretation of the phenomenon. Later essays will look at it in more detail. (The original form of…
29. There are three things that are stately in their march, Even four that are stately when they walk: 30. The lion is mighty among beasts And does not turn back before any, 31. The strutting cock, The male goat, And a king with his army around him. 32. If…
We have seen that it is likely that the Artaxerxes of Ezra-Nehemiah is the same as Darius the Great. If this solution be correct, and I think it is, possibly there is another problem in Ezra that can be resolved by it. In Ezra 4:6 we are told that "in…
Czech novelist Milan Kundera, though hardly a household name in the English-speaking world, has achieved a certain notoriety in America in recent years, largely on the strength of the English translation and film version of his novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. 1 The Unbearable Lightness of Being — the…
24. Four things are small on the earth, But they are exceedingly wise; 25. The ants are not a strong folk, But they prepare their food in the summer; 26. The coneys are not a mighty folk, Yet they make their houses in the rocks; 27. The locusts have no…
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Yuri Slezkine opens his book, The Jewish Century (11-12), with the arresting claim that "The Modern Age is the Jewish Age, and the twentieth century, in particular, is the Jewish Century. " He makes good on the claim with brief glimpses of what makes modernity modern. Modernization is itself "about…
Pierre-Simon Ballanche (1776-1847) is hardly a household name today, but he was a significant literary figure in 19th-century France. Albert Joseph George calls him a " precursor to romanticism ," and he was an eccentrically Christian advocate for social reforms of various kinds. In his Ville des expiations , unpublished…
We all know the story. Wise men come from the east, following a star to Jerusalem. They tell King Herod they’re looking for the “king of the Jews.” Like the rest of Jerusalem, Herod is troubled, not thrilled, by the news. To Herod, another king must be a rival for…
The Chronicler leaves out all the juicy stories of David's career - some of his major battles, his youthful heroism, Saul's persecution, adultery, murder, household disintegration. David isn't perfect , but he's cleaned up enough to join respectable company. Mark Thronveit asks whether the Chronicler is a "spin doctor." He…
We live in an Age of Anger , writes Pankaj Mishra. He sees it everywhere: "wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, suicide bombings in Belgium, Xinjiang, Nigeria and Turkey, insurgencies from Yemen to Thailand, massacres in Paris, Tunisia, Florida, Dhaka and Nice. Conventional wars between states are dwarfed by…
George Monbiot notes the individualization of entertainment ( Out of the Wreckage ): "Television, while it tended to shut down conversation, at least was something that we watched, in the early days, together. Now we often watch is alone. We spend hours every day watching other people doing what we…
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