[T]hey have been the delusive prologue to an age worse than that of iron—the age of tinsel and gossamer, in which no thought has substance enough to be moulded into consistent and lasting form.

What we now encounter in the male order of civilization is sexiness, the erotic power of the beautiful woman to lure the powerful man to his own destruction.

Here, Paul is not assumed to have been a representative Jew, but (taking him at his word) is seen to have persecuted the early churches out of an extreme hyperobservance, having been “far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors” than his peers (Gal. 1:13-14, emphasis added).

His natural language was crass and of the mofussil, yet he could pepper it with smart turns of phrase on occasion.