SODOM & GOMORRAH: One can learn a lot by comparing Japanese reactions to the recent earthquake to western ones. The Japanese government came out and said that the heavens were punishing them for being greedy. That was why the earthquake happened, and the general populace should take heed. It seems that the Japanese don't mind the idea of an interventionist God, unlike … [Read more...]
Israel’s Mission in the Wilderness
Dedicated to my father, a missionary in the wilderness. SODOM & GOMORRAH: The theological category of the wilderness is often synonymous with punishment. This most likely arises from God's banishment of Israel in the wilderness for forty years after they committed idolatry. The wilderness itself is a neutral concept. In Hebrew the word is midbawr and it comes from a … [Read more...]
The Christian Conception of the Locust
SODOM & GOMORRAH: Politics is theology. If the neo-Marxists Hardt and Negri have embraced the swarm metaphor and have encouraged revolutionaries to adopt it as their own, the opponents of revolution should look for the parallel theological metaphor to understand the conflict. The Four Stages of the Locust and the Political Theology of the Swarm The current wave of … [Read more...]
The Person in the Dobell Poems
This is a guest post by Homestead: Theatre of Words. All that is pressing in politics, religion and art arises from a single question: What is it to be human? There is no final answer and no possible end to asking the question. The more we know of ourselves, and the more we respond to that knowledge, the more mysterious we become. The Bible tells us within its … [Read more...]
Some Focus on the Japanese Quake
SODOM & GOMORRAH: This article illustrates that even when you focus on the disaster itself, you might try to give humans credit for something that's larger than them. Do we argue that God sent the quake? No. We merely say that God said there would be earthquakes. They are a sign for the faithful, we must watch. … [Read more...]