Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. That passage from Leviticus is often derided as, or pointed to for evidence of, “biblical harshness.” The principle of the passage is not unique to the Bible, however, for the code of legal retaliation is found in all Near Eastern law codes. In comparison to the … Continue reading Lex Talionis and the Principle of Limitation
Bible
Aquinas on Free Will, Sin, and Ethics
Does freedom entail responsibility, punishment, and reward? What is the role of compulsion, will, and choice in human action? St. Thomas Aquinas vigorously defended the reality of free will, not simply because he felt that it was divinely revealed—“He himself made man from the beginning, and left him in the hand of his counsel” (Sirach … Continue reading Aquinas on Free Will, Sin, and Ethics
Augustine’s City of God, IX: Understanding Augustine’s Hermeneutic
Part of Augustine’s ecclesiological hermeneutic which is developed more fully in the City of God is already a well-established hermeneutic in the early church: The Christological, Ecclesiological, and Spiritual reading of Scripture. However, Augustine provides the first arguable systematic account of this ecclesiological-allegorical hermeneutical lens especially from within the confines of covenant theology. While there … Continue reading Augustine’s City of God, IX: Understanding Augustine’s Hermeneutic
Augustine on Christ, Time, and Eternity in Genesis 1
Saint Augustine’s Confessions is one of the most famous works of spiritual autobiography and, in the minds of many contemporary psychoanalysts and phenomenologists, the spiritual forerunner to psychological interiority and phenomenology. The book is not excessively long, but it is exceptionally dense; particularly Books X-XIII which shift from spiritual autobiographical confession to psychological, philosophical, and … Continue reading Augustine on Christ, Time, and Eternity in Genesis 1
