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Writing

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Art

Toward a Biblical Definition of Obscenity

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…

by Peter LeithartMay 30, 1991
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Biblical Studies

The Abomination of Desolation, Part 1

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…

by James B. JordanMay 22, 1991
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Biblical Studies

Advice From a Sojourner, Part 12

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…

by James B. JordanMay 22, 1991
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Biblical Studies

The Chronology of Ezra & Nehemiah, Part 4

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…

by James B. JordanMay 22, 1991
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Biblical Horizons

The Weight of Being

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…

by Peter LeithartMay 6, 1991
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Proverbs

Advice From a Sojourner, Part 11

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…

by James B. JordanApril 22, 1991

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Unequal Yoke

Jehoshaphat allies with Ahab of Israel by marrying his son to Ahab's daughter Athaliah (2 Chronicles 18:1-3). He follows up with a religious alliance, sharing a sacrificial feast with Ahab. That leads to a military alliance, as Jehoshaphat puts Yahweh's hosts on the field to fight for Ahab. It almost…

September 19, 2017

The Cross of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, 2

II. The Cross in Christian Experience How are the cross and resurrection reproduced in human life since Jesus’ cross and resur­rection? Essentially, Jesus incorporated death into life. Christian faith means faith in a God who makes death into a positive feature in life. Rosenstock-Huessy observes that life is suffering, battle,…

September 19, 2017

The Cross of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, 1

For a general introduction to the life and work of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, see my "The Relevance of Rosenstock-Huessy." “The Crucifixion is the fountainhead of all my values,” wrote the German-American philosopher and historian Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, “the great divide whence flow the processes most real in my inner life, and my…

September 18, 2017
Music

What Pianists Know

I grew up taking piano lessons. My mother, a college music teacher before her marriage, made sure of that. I didn't care much for it, and gave it a lot less attention than my free throw technique. Tristesse . I wish I had believed my teachers who told me I'd…

September 15, 2017

Liturgical Tradition

Maxwell Johnson ends a chapter on "the Apostolic Tradition" in the Oxford History of Christian Worship with a reflection on the challenge of identifying the content of the "liturgical tradition": "it has become extraordinarily difficult in the light of contemporary liturgical scholarship to say clearly from within this formative period…

September 15, 2017

Worship and Life in Balance

Worship, Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) says, orders everything in human life: "It is only . . . when man’s relationship with God is right that all of his other relationships . . . can be in good order . . . . Worship . . . is essential for the…

September 15, 2017

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