Peter J. Leithart

Ronald Osborn’s  Death Before the Fall is two books in one, as the subtitle suggests: “Biblical Literalism and the Problem of Animal Suffering.”Part of the book is a critique of “literalism,” especially as expressed in young-earth creationism, the other part . . . . Continue Reading »

Jesus threatens to throw the self-appointed prophetess Jezebel onto a bed (Revelation 3:22). The threat carries multiple resonances.The original Jezebel died by being thrown from a window to the ground in front of conquering Jehu. Jesus is the new Jehu throwing Jezebel to her . . . . Continue Reading »

In his contribution to The Reader Must Understand, Crispin Fletcher-Louis argues convincingly that “heaven and earth” in Jesus’ eschatological discourses doesn’t refer to “a collapse of the space-time universe . . . but as a collapse of a mythical space-time . . . . Continue Reading »

God hangs the earth on nothing (Job 26:7).That’s literally true. There’s no changeless substance beneath the surface of change, nothing holding us up, making it all stable and safe. There’s nothing holding creation in place except God.Every effort to hang the world on . . . . Continue Reading »

A friend recently criticized the popular use of dance imagery to describe the perichoretic life of the Trinity. I laughed and played along. I’ve been in churches that have tried to enact the perichoretic dance, and, trust me, it ain’t inspiring.But then I want to say: Doesn’t that . . . . Continue Reading »

Registration is now open for the Pentecost term course at Trinity House, an introduction to liturgical theology taught by Pastor Jeffrey Meyers of Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church, St. Louis. For more information and registration, . . . . Continue Reading »

Evelyn Barish’s The Double Life of Paul De Manhas received mixed reviews. The NYTBR review cataloged minor errors to build a case against Barish’s reliability. Robert Alter’s review in The New Republic finds Barish’s case compelling. The case is moral and . . . . Continue Reading »

Every morning Venus lights up in the sky before the sun rises - a speck of light before the sun.Jesus is the morning star (Revelation 22:16), who shines before the light of the Father is revealed. Jesus is the morning star that announces a day where there will be no night, a day with no Sun except . . . . Continue Reading »

With characteristic gleeful verve, Rodney Stark assaults secularization theory in his Triumph of Christianity.Secularization theory revived, he says, a charge brought against religious pluralism by “monopoly religions: that disputes among religious groups undermine the credibility of . . . . Continue Reading »

Latin America was supposed to become Protestant by now. In one of the major non-developments of the past quarter-century, it didn’t.Catholics didn’t take predictions of a Protestant Latin America lightly, and responded with renewal efforts of their own. Rodney Stark (Triumph of . . . . Continue Reading »