Peter J. Leithart

INTRODUCTION According to Ephesians, the gospel is about God’s formation of a new humanity. This is true in two senses: First, in Jesus, the Last Adam, believers are made new Adams and Eves; and, second, in Jesus the divided human race is united into a new family, the temple of God. THE TEXT . . . . Continue Reading »

Milbank argues that, given its ontology of violence, paganism can only respond to violence with a counter-violence of its own. Political and social thus do not rest on peaceful donation or harmony but on the threat and actual practice of violence. This view could be refined by introducing . . . . Continue Reading »

Robert Louis Wilken has a very fine piece on the “church’s way of speaking” in the Aug/Sept issue of First Things. He points out that the church’s faith is not merely “doctrinal propositions, creedal affirmations, and moral codes” but “a world of discourse . . . . Continue Reading »

Kierkegaard: “Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close . . . We would be sunk if it were not for Christian scholarship! Priase be to everyone who . . . . Continue Reading »

Ephesians 1:7, 13-14: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace . . . In Him you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy . . . . Continue Reading »

Almost from the beginning of the university in the late Middle Ages, students have formed a community of their own, set off from the surrounding community. Sometimes this division of town and gown erupted in literal battles. As recently as the late 1960s, students in various universities in Europe . . . . Continue Reading »

This comment comes from Burke’s “Letter to a Noble Lord,” addressed to the Duke of Bedford and the Earl of Lauderdale. He is warning that “the rude inroad of Gallic tumult” will turn on any English nobles who support it: “With them insurrection is the most sacred . . . . Continue Reading »

Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice is organized around caskets, bonds, and rings. Of these, the ring plot is the most baffling. After Portia (disguised as a lawyer) saves Antonio’s bacon, she demands that Bassanio hand over a ring as a way of showing his gratitude for her/his . . . . Continue Reading »

A history of gratitude remains to be written. That it would be a worthwhile project, providing an important angle of vision into important developments in Western civilization, can be illustrated by a contrast of Oedipus and King Lear. As Catherine Dunn explains in her 1946 dissertation on . . . . Continue Reading »

INTRODUCTION What are we up to in Moscow? The simple answer is that we are embarked on an experiment in Christian culture. Ephesians teaches us how we are to do this. THE TEXT “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: . . . . Continue Reading »