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Deuteronomy

Torah as Testimony (Part 2)

Cornelius Van Til offered a revolutionary exposition of the Christian worldview through the lens of Reformed theology. He argued and, I believe demonstrated, that Biblical metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics mutually presuppose and include one another. Every ethical statement of the Bible — commands about righteousness — presuppose the existence and…

by Ralph Allan SmithJune 21, 2022
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Deuteronomy

Torah as Testimony (Part 1)

In the introductory portion of Deuteronomy, Moses’ last sermons to the people of Israel — people that he regarded as his own beloved children — there is a statement that may seem paradoxical to a modern reader. It invites questions and maybe even creates problems in our understanding. Here are…

by Ralph Allan SmithJune 14, 2022
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Biblical Studies

The View from Gerar: Looking Back to Moriah (and Forward to Sinai)

In his discussion of the biblical type scene, Robert Alter speaks of the “patterns of repetition, symmetry, [and] contrast” which characterize the narratives of Scripture, patterns that give pleasure to the reader while also building up a web of meaningful connections between texts. 1 But if readers are to notice…

by Josh JensenJune 7, 2022
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Genesis

Did Eve Ruin Female Ordination?

In 1 Timothy 2, Paul writes: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Timothy 2:12-14). This…

by Adam McIntoshMay 31, 2022
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Matthew

Warhorse Meek

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5 When the above verse is read during a Lord’s Day service, no doubt, every extrovert in the room thinks to himself, “Well, that rules out me.” After all, the meek folks in the room are the ones you…

by Garrett SoucyMay 24, 2022
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Biblical Studies

Earth and Fire

The flames of the altar tell a mysterious story beyond mere atonement. The altar was a place of union, glory, worship, love and forgiveness, laughter and tears, renewal and hope. The altar is where Israel would feast with God, sacrifice to God, worship God, confess, and receive forgiveness from God.…

by Kyle LammottMay 23, 2022

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Philosophy

Heidegger in his woods

Latour is tired of being accused of having forgotten Being, and offers this clever brush-off of Heidegger: “If, scorning empiricism, you opt out of the exact sciences, then the human sciences,, then traditional philosophy, then the sciences of language, and you hunker down in your forest - then you will…

November 15, 2006
History

Semi-modernism

Postmoderns, Latour suggests, think they are still modern, but in fact they have greatly oversimplified the modern Constitution. Postmoderns might emphasize the separation of subject and world, and stretch that opposition to a breaking point (Latour vividly describes them as doing the splits to keep subject and world apart); but…

November 15, 2006
History

Modern temporality

In his very good section on modern temporality, Latour argues that modernity assumes that everything in the present, modern moment, is purely modern, novel. Anything that appears that is not up-to-date is a “archaism,” and moderns worry constantly that this or that event or trend might “turn back the clock.”…

November 15, 2006
History

Representation

One of the key moves made since the 17th century, Latour argues, is a distinction between modes of “representation.” In the laboratory Boyle is representing things before selected witnesses through scientific experiments, giving mute nature a voice through the scientist, while in politics Hobbes suggests that the Sovereign speaks for…

November 15, 2006
History

We Have Never Been Modern

Bruno Latour’s We Have Never Been Modern (Harvard 1993) is a rich study. He describes modernity in terms of a dual process of “purification” and “hybridization.” Purification involves the clean construction of a nature (and science) separated off from society and the self, while hybridization involves mixtures of nature and…

November 15, 2006

Tears of things

And/Or: Virgil is aware that the furor of civil war can be curbed only by an opposing, and more intense, furor. That, as Milbank says, is the way of paganism - peace established only by superior violence against violence. But in those tears Virgil expresses the the painful recognition -…

November 13, 2006

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