Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The name of Harry Turtledove is well known to readers of fantasy and science fiction. Turtledove is an historian, and most of what he writes is in the "alternative history" genre. A fine collection of short stories, available in paperback, is his Agent of Byzantium . These stories are set…
In answer to a question, the following about the unicorn, a supposed "New Age" symbol: The unicorn, or monoceros (one-horn), was known around the ancient world. Some scholars believe it may have been the one-horned goat that is still bred today. Others think it may have originated in tales of…
3. A Brief Survey of Esther (continued from the previous issue) Haman told the king that "a certain people" were rebellious against him, and that Haman wanted to rid the king of their noxious presence. The king agreed, and the two sat down to a feast. This is the third…
It has become routine in October for some Christian schools to send out letters warning parents about the evils of Halloween, and it has become equally routine for me to be asked questions about this matter. "Halloween" is simply a contraction for All Hallows’ Eve. The word "hallow" means "saint,"…
2. The Setting of the Book of Esther (continued from previous issue) Astyages E. W. Faulstich presents his arguments in his book History, Harmony, The Exile & Return . 1 To understand it, we have to have some background. The Assyrians ruled the near east. Median king Cyaxeres decided to…
In my commentary on Judges, I demonstrated that Jephthah in his Spirit-led vow intended to offer to Yahweh the first person who greeted him from the doors of his house after the battle. Since it was a custom for the young women to come out dancing to greet the returning…
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Julian Young offers a neat summary of the Arthur Schopenhauer (the "first European Buddhist") at the TLS . Schopenhauer's philosophy can be pinpointed by contrast with two better-known thinkers. Against Hegel's fantastic " Bildungsroman , a story of the ever-increasing realization of 'reason' in human affairs," Schopenhauer offered a thoroughgoing,…
"How is it possible," asks Terry Teachout , "that a man who made his conducting debut when Grover Cleveland was president should still be sufficiently well known and revered that most of his recordings remain in print to this day?" Teachout thinks that Harvey Sachs's Toscanini: Musician of Conscience comes…
The first published book of Jorge Luis Borges, the great Argentinian poet and short-story writer, was Fervor de Buenos Aires . Borges later wrote, “ Fervor de Buenos Aires foreshadows everything I would do afterward.” It was a slapdash production, Borges claimed in his autobiography: “The book was actually printed…
John Colmer observes in his study of E.M. Forster that Forster's novels transpose Christian terms into a secular key: "a whole set of religious terms - salvation, grace, conversion, transfiguration - become assimilated into an essentially secular vision. . . . Men now seek their happiness on this earth not…
Richard Florida's 2002 Rise of the Creative Class was a manifesto for urban hipness. As Joseph Bottum sums up the book , Florida argued that "cities thrive when these creative types are allowed to build the creative economy. Their tolerance for alternative lifestyles and their acceptance of unconventional housing broke…
"Medieval tolerance" sounds like an oxymoron. Everyone knows the medievals were in tolerant. Everyone knows that tolerance was invented in the modern world. Everyone who knows such things is wrong. Istvan Bejczy demonstrates in a 1997 essay that medieval thinkers had a well-developed concept of tolerance. He goes further than…
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