(click for full image)

From Asimov’s Guide to the Bible, pp. 1129f:

Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, and Powers

The occasion for the epistle was the news that had come to Paul that the Colossians were falling under the influence of Gnosticism. Some of the Colossians were coming to accept mystical doctrines concerning vast heavenly hierarchies of angels, all serving as intermediaries between God and man. Jesus, by this view, would be just another intermediary and perhaps not a particularly important one.

This Paul denounces. He lists the attributes of Jesus, insisting, eloquently, that Jesus is all in all and that nothing can transcend him:

Colossians 1:15.… [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God…

Colossians 1:16. For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and for him.

The reference to thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers are to the names given various levels of angelic intermediaries, each manifesting some mystical attribute of God. Paul warns against such mystical speculations:

Colossians 2:18. Let no man beguile you … [into] worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.

Nevertheless, in the centuries after Paul, mystical thought invaded Christianity and hierarchies of angels were adopted in profusion, although Jesus was recognized as transcending them all. The two highest, seraphim and cherubim, come from the Old Testament, as do the two lowest, archangels and angels. The intermediate levels: thrones, dominions, virtues, powers, and principalities are, however, taken from the Gnostic theories that Paul denounces.

Bob Murphy writes,

Pacific Research Institute has just released a new study, “The Sizzle of Economic Freedom,” that summarizes the empirical literature regarding the benefits of liberty. There is a large and growing body of peer-reviewed academic work, which uses rankings such as the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World in order to test whether liberty per se is a significant explanatory variable on areas as diverse of GDP growth, literacy rates, and even environmental quality. (Guess what? The results look good for freedom.) As a co-author of the study, I was surprised by how much work has been done in this area. Here is the press release, and here is the actual study (pdf).

If you are inclined to buy this beautiful bow tie from Mises.org…

…you may find this video, created by a certain Misesian, helpful:

Jeffrey Tucker put that together not as part of his Austrian-school life but as part of his sacred-music life. So don’t feel too bad if you don’t know the meaning of ictus:

(No, he is not suggesting you find the “stroke or seizure.” Stick with definition #1.)

Very happy to receive this note over the holiday:

From: “Ben Furrer”
Date: December 27, 2008 11:30:43 PM EST
To: goldbug@bkmarcus.com
Subject: Your article on Gilligan’s Island

I did a YouTube version of your article because it was very good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz0HZYZCAGk (pt1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOlmuG-6bwE (pt2)

He’s referring to this article: