The Two Testaments finished its podcast-tour through the Book of Job recently with a discussion focused on Job's concluding words and the epilogue: Job 42 (Job's Response and Epilogue) with Carol Newsom. The podcast is hosted at The Two Testaments, and it's available at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nmfpbCSEQc Carol Newsom is the author of The Book of … Continue reading Carol Newsom podcast on the Book of Job
In the beginning, God said, "Let there be light." Or, in translation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roqGqhX6_-U "The four-dimensional divergence of an antisymmetric second rank tensor equals zero". That is the formula for light. In physics, light is defined as a form of electromagnetic radiation. If I understand correctly, what we have in the video above is James Clerk … Continue reading Let there be electromagnetism
In my last post I reviewed a book by William P. Brown, The Seven Pillars of Creation, that read God's speeches in the Book of Job as a creation story. This was a very new perspective for me. It made me take a look back at my little journey through Job in recent months. I've … Continue reading William P. Brown podcast about Job
I am at the moment still studying the Book of Job, but I wanted to make a quick note on an insight I picked up concerning Proverbs. Proverbs is sometimes thought to offer simplistic morality, in which the righteous are rewarded for their faith in God and the wicked are reliably punished. When I read … Continue reading Robert Alter’s reading of Proverbs
Tom McLeish's blog, Faith and Wisdom In Science, offers a scientist's perspective on the Book of Job. As a believer and scientist, McLeish argues that there is no necessary conflict between religion and science, which is a welcome message in these times. He has a lot of material on the Book of Job. He writes … Continue reading Tom McLeish on Science and the Book of Job
I just finished reading the Book of Job for the second time in two months, and this time I read it in a single day, which produced a new experience for me with this very old friend of a poem. Reading Robert Alter's translation this time, I skipped his footnotes and read them only at … Continue reading Reading Job in a day
"The Fellowship of the Ring" came out in theaters twenty years ago, almost to the day. Below is an essay that I wrote in the days after I saw it -- an essay that, besides being a bit of a time portal, covers a ton of subjects about books, movies, history, religion, dead white males, … Continue reading The Fellowship of the Ring
Maria didn't believe in hell. If there was a hell it came to you in life."Streets of Laredo," chapter 8 “Streets of Laredo”, the sequel to "Lonesome Dove," is so filled with cruelty and death that paradoxically, it doesn’t feel ultra-realistic; it feels theological and moral – and the environment feels otherworldly. Larry McMurtry once … Continue reading Theology and morality in Laredo
January 17, 2021 Raphael Warnock's "Divided Mind of the Black Church" (2013) has a title that may sell the book short. This is a book about the black church, but it is a fine meditation on the meaning of Christianity, the role of the cross in any church, the role of a church in any … Continue reading The Divided Mind of the Black Church
