The way of imagination

       The 7 th century saw the former (united) Roman empire split into three entities – the “barbarian west” where Catholicism predominated, the Eastern Byzantine empire which was Orthodox, and the Muslim world which would soon stretch from Persia to Spain (south of Europe for the most part).   Christians in Muslim lands were dubbed “people of the Gospel” and were often obliged to pay the dhimmi tax.   It is not always easy to distinguish between the polemical caricatures of Muslims in Christian texts and historical reality.   Undoubtedly, there was sometimes religiously inspired violence against Christians in Muslim lands during this period, but there doesn’t seem to have been anything approximating “genocide” perpetrated against Christians once their lands had been conquered.   Three of the five historic Christian patriarchates – Jerusalem, Alexandria and Antioch – quickly fell into Muslim hands.      Indeed, it was...

                Augustine had been a Manichean before his conversion to Christianity and his engagement with Manichean ideas would shape Christian views on both the nature (and “origins”) of good and evil as well as personal holiness.   Manichaeism was essentially dualist, believing the universe to be “governed” by two equal and opposite powers – i.e. good and evil – engaged in an eternal cosmic “duel”.   Augustine would come to reject this worldview, and insist that the Bible portrayed one, all-powerful Creator God, who had neither equal nor rival.   Although a cursory reading of the Gospels might give one the impression that Satan is God’s counterpart, the Hebrew Scriptures portray ha satan as a member of the (heavily populated) heavenly court, a sort of “public prosecutor”.   Eventually, the image of Lucifer/Satan as a fallen angel (i.e. creature) would become the predominant view, according to which Sat...

  I.                     Gn. 6.5—9.17: The Great Flood A. OBSERVATION 1. General observations      The Flood narrative begins with God regretting having created humanity, due to its “great wickedness” (Gn. 6.5-6).   Things have apparently escalated since the murder of Abel.   “But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord” (6.8).   Indeed, Noah’s unique destiny had been portended since his birth (cf. 5.28-29).   Noah’s father “prophesizes” that his son will provide humanity “relief [1] from the toil caused by the cursing of the ground” (cf. 3.17-18).   Like his great-grandfather Enoch before him, Noah “walked with God” (6.9; cf. 5.22-24).   Indeed, Noah is the only “righteous” [2] person among his generation (7.1; cf. 6.9); presumably, this is because, in the preceding verse, he is said to “have done all that God commanded him” [3]...

  I.                     Gn. 4.1-26: Cain’s murder of his brother & Cain’s genealogy A. OBSERVATION 1.       General observations      The primal pair becomes a family of four (4.1-2).   The vocation “to till ( abad ) and to keep ( samar )” (cf. Gn. 2.15) continues. [1]   Cain, like his father, is a “tiller ( abad ) of the ground”, while Abel is a “keeper ( raa ) of sheep”.   The Lord remonstrates much with Cain, first when he is angered by God’s rejection of his offering (4.6-7) and again after Cain kills his brother due to his simmering resentment [2] (4.9-15).   Abel, whose textual “lifespan” consists of 7 verses, says not a word.   There are many similarities with the preceding chapter. [3]   Following upon a troublesome human situation, God intervenes with a series of (rhetorical) [4] questions (4....