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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The TLS reviewer of a recent Mondrian exhibit observes that Mondrian spent the final years of his life attempting to “eradicate any trace of the organic world from his art and surroundings.” Not surprisingly, he was unsuccessful: “Mondrian would remain vexed until the very end by what he regarded as…
Edmund Spenser’s style in the Fairie Queene was odd even when he first wrote it, and Spenser scholars have long argued the whys and wherefores. David Scott Wilson-Okamura argues that, unique as it was, Spenser’s style has sources both in contemporary poetry and antiquity. According to the TLS reviewer of…
The father of Alexandre Dumas was a man of legendary strength, courage, and energy, and his life is now the subject of a biography, The Black Count by Tom Reiss. The engaging TLS review sums up the influence that Dumas pere had on his famous son: “Dumas’s novels are deeply…
Yael Klangwisan’s Earthing the Cosmic Queen offers a couple of distinct theoretical frameworks for interpreting the Song of Songs. The first is summarized by the acronym “Pardes,” Paradise, which occurs at Song 4:13. Drawing from rabbinic hermeneutics, she proposes to read the text as it stands ( Peshat ), to…
Christians in the US are entering a period of crisis that will lead to martyrdom. Perhaps the martyrdom will be comparatively mild: No pyres or firing squads, but only mockery, slander, ostracism. But it will still be martyrdom, that is, the opportunity - the privilege - to witness faithfully under…
When Noah ( noach ) brings the ark to its resting place ( nuach ) on Ararat, he offers an ascension that brings a resting ( niychoach ) aroma to Yahweh (Genesis 8:21). The aroma “pacifies” Yahweh, but there seems to be another dimension as well. When Yahweh is enthroned…
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