Ed Gallagher

Paradise Lost, Book 5

907 lines. Here we begin a narrative of the war in heaven that took place before Book 1. The setting of the entire book is Paradise, with Adam and Eve. We meet Satan in this book only in flashback, as his prior history is narrated. The angel Raphael, sent by God, comes for a visitContinue reading “Paradise Lost, Book 5”

Easter in Tegel Prison

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, to his parents, April 25, 1943 (opening paragraph) My dear Parents, Today ten days have finally passed, and I am allowed to write to you once again. I would really like to let you know that I am celebrating a happy Easter here. What is so liberating about Good Friday and Easter isContinue reading “Easter in Tegel Prison”

Paradise Lost, Book 4

1015 lines On his way to Paradise, Satan has second thoughts (lines 1–31). He remembers what he was, reflects on what he has become, and fears a worse fate. These doubts leads to a speech by Satan (lines 32–113), an interesting speech, in which Satan sounds downright sorry for his rebellion in heaven against aContinue reading “Paradise Lost, Book 4”

Paradise Lost, Book 3

Here we leave Satan and meet God and the Son, though we will return to Satan for the last third of the book. This book is the shortest so far (742 lines). The Argument shows that God knows exactly what Satan is up to, the success that he will have in tempting humans, and whatContinue reading “Paradise Lost, Book 3”

Paradise Lost, Book 2

Highlights of this book include especially the descriptions of Sin and Death, but also the war council with which the book begins, with different evil angels giving their different advice on what to do. This book is about 250 lines longer than the first book (1055 lines compared to 798 lines). Milton’s “Argument” at theContinue reading “Paradise Lost, Book 2”

Pain Was a Stranger to Us

In May 1944, Eberhard and Renate Bethge celebrated the baptism of their new son Dietrich Wilhelm Rüdiger Bethge. For the occasion, the child’s godfather and great-uncle Dietrich Bonhoeffer composed some “Thoughts on the Day of Baptism of D.W.R. May 1944.” The document takes up about eight pages in the Reader’s Edition of the Letters andContinue reading “Pain Was a Stranger to Us”

Paradise Lost, Book 1

I’m reading through Paradise Lost (1674) again, and I’ve decided to take some notes, which I’ll post here. Milton starts each book with a prose “Argument.” Here are some interesting elements from the Argument of Book 1: Satan and his angels have been expelled from heaven, fallen into hell, not the centre but Chaos, utterContinue reading “Paradise Lost, Book 1”

The Greek Perfect Tense

Mike Aubrey works for Logos Bible Software and Wycliffe Bible Translators, and he blogs at Koine-Greek. He wrote the chapter on the Perfect Tense in the book Linguistics and New Testament Greek (see also here). This post mostly summarizes his contribution, which you can also find in draft form at his academia.edu page. There isContinue reading “The Greek Perfect Tense”

Verbal Aspect in Greek

Constantine Campbell used to teach at Trinity Evangelical, but I guess he doesn’t now. His website says that he “was a professor” and that he now lives in Australia. Anyway, he’s still writing on the New Testament and the Greek language. I’ve previously read his book Advances in the Study of Greek (Zondervan 2015) andContinue reading “Verbal Aspect in Greek”

The End of Hannibal

After the Second Punic War, the Carthaginian general Hannibal continued to make war on Rome, as a general for hire by other kings. He was renowned even in his own day as one of the greatest generals that had ever lived. In his final military engagement, as narrated by Justin, he fought at sea onContinue reading “The End of Hannibal”