Peter J. Leithart

Jesus has the key of David to open and shut (Revelation 3:8). He puts an “open door” before the angel of Philadelphia. Which way is the angel to go: In or out? The passage is typically understood with reference to mission. The angel is pictured on the inside of some enclosed . . . . Continue Reading »

The always-fascinating Oliver Sacks takes a break from his human patients to review several recent and old books on earthworms, jelly-fish, and plants in the NYRB. One is Daniel Chamovitz’s recent What A Plant Knows.Sacks writes, “We all distinguish between plants and animals. . . . . Continue Reading »

John sees two signs in heaven (Revelation 12), a woman and a dragon. Sharply different as they are, John’s language brings out their similarities.1) Both are called semeion, vv. 1, 3.2) John uses the passive ophthe to introduce both, vv. 1, 3.3) Both are signs in heaven (en to ourano, vv. 1, . . . . Continue Reading »

In Who’s Afraid of Relativism?, his recent brief for Christian pragmatism as a philosophy of contingency and creaturehood, James KA Smith summarizes a wonderful little analogy from Wittgenstein: “Language [is] a city. While referentialist theories of meaning might recognize . . . . Continue Reading »

Jennifer Lahl of the Center for Bioethics and Culturewill show her latest documentary film, Breeders: A Subclass of Women?, at Beeson Divinity School, Birmingham, on the evening of Saturday, April 5. The event is co-sponsored by Trinity Houseand Beeson Divinity School.For more information, . . . . Continue Reading »

J.N. Adams takes up a classic question about the history of Latin in his Social Variation and the Latin Language: How did the Romance languages emerge from Latin?It’s been thought that the Romance languages came from changes in Latin pronunciation and grammar at the lower levels of . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Samuel 14 records the second of Saul’s three falls: He sins when he sacrifices impetuously without waiting for Samuel (ch. 13), when he attacks Jonathan for eating during a battle (ch. 14), when he refuses to carry out the ban against the Amalekites (ch. 15).Chapter 14 is also about . . . . Continue Reading »

Greek and Roman Animal Sacrifice, edited by Christopher Faraone and F.S. Naiden, is divided into four sections: modern treatments of sacrifice, Greek and Roman sacrificial practice, representations in visual arts, and sacrifice in Greek comedy and tragedy.Bruce Lincoln opens with an informative . . . . Continue Reading »

People who work in the tech industry pride themselves on their long hours and work ethics. It may backfire, warns Michael Thomsen.He cites studies that link sleep deprivation with declines in “divergent” thought, “weakened long-term memory, impaired decision-making . . . . Continue Reading »

A tidbit from E.P. Evans’s Criminal Prosecution and the Capital Punishment of Animals(18-19).“It is said that Bartholomew Chassenee, a distinguished French jurist of the sixteenth century . . . made his reputation at the bar  as counsel for some rats, which had been put on . . . . Continue Reading »