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The Four: A Survey of the Gospels
Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom
From Behind the Veil: The Epistles of John
Deep Exegesis:The Mystery of Reading Scripture
1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary
The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter
A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons
Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature
Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen
The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism
A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel
From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution
Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy
Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper
A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament
Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature
Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays
Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life
The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church
A friend, Aaron Cummings, writes in response to my comments about Derrida and prodigal words:
“A few days ago, you alluded to Derrida, that words run prodigal from the speaker/writer. You said that this was true of Mankind’s words, but not of God’s. It seems to me that this is true of all word apart from the work of the Spirit. It is the Spirit who conveys the ultimate Word from the ultimate Speaker, to us, who are the Listeners. The Spirit enables and empowers the whole process of speech, hearing, and interpretation. God’s Word to us is empowered by the Spirit. Our response as well is empowered by the Spirit. Thus, we understand God’s Word only because the Spirit of the Speaker Himself is at work in our very hearts, stirring up desire to know, understand, and love the Speech of the Speaker.
“And it would seem to me that human communication must image this divinely Spiritual conveyance and equally Spiritual reception. When another speaks a human word to me, it is ultimately the Spirit of love that enables me to understand his speech. The Spirit unites human Speaker, human Word, and human Listener. If we are going to overcome Derrida’s prodigal words, we must trust the Spirit of faith, hope and love to make the sense plain to us. Additionally, we must submit ourselves to the “spirit” of the speaker, to make plain the sense of what he desired to say. We must trust that the word is accurately begotten of the speaker. By the power of the Spirit, the prodigal word comes home.”
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 2:33 pm
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