Peter J. Leithart is President of the Theopolis Institute, Birmingham, Alabama, and an adjunct Senior Fellow at New St. Andrews College. He is author, most recently, of Gratitude: An Intellectual History (Baylor).
The Void is one of the essential dimensions of humanness, argues Esther Lightcap Meek (A Little Manual for Knowing, 35).The Void is the recognition that we might not be, which can arise from curse, betrayal, or from “a brush with death or fear, depression or danger, an uncomfortable situation, . . . . Continue Reading »
Knowing follows the “dynamic of dance,” writes Esther Lightcap Meek (A Little Manual for Knowing, 79).The knower and the reality to be known are partners, each one off balance at a particular moment but sustaining “an ongoing, overall balance” (80), engaged in a personal . . . . Continue Reading »
The essays on art collected in Tikkun Olamoriginated from Gillian Rose’s “broken middle,” writes editor Jason Goroncy. He includes a long quotation from a Rowan Williams essay on Job to explain.Williams writes, “Mere resignation is a betrayal; structuring and explanation . . . . Continue Reading »
Jesus’ letter to Pergamum mentions Balaam and Balak (Revelation 2:14), and that is a signal that the whole message is running along the lines of Numbers 22-25.The death of the high priest is a sacrificial moment in the life of Israel. According to the rules of the cities of refuge . . . . Continue Reading »
It’s easy for Christians to become frustrated with the state of the world, but frustration is ineffective and perhaps dangerous public stance. Over at Comment, I prescribe an antidote to frustration - a public stance infused with the theological . . . . Continue Reading »
In a highly provocative VT article from 2009, Leigh M. Trevaskis points to the emphasis on Sabbath in Leviticus 23 and 25.All but one festival day is either on a date that is a multiple of seven, or on the day just after. The exception is the day of atonement, which falls on the tenth day of the . . . . Continue Reading »
Leigh Trevaskis offers an intriguing, helpful discussion of the man stoned for blasphemy in Leviticus 24.Recent commentators have emphasized the “mixed” character of the blasphemer - son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father. While acknowledging the importance of that feature of . . . . Continue Reading »
It’s hard to find interesting work on Leviticus 23. It’s easy to find tedious critical dissections of the history of the text.One of the conundrums is in verse 2: First we read about the appointed times of Yahweh. Then at the end of the verse we hear about “my” appointed . . . . Continue Reading »
Yahweh’s pesach is to take place on the fourteenth day of the first (ri’shown) month (Leviticus 23:5). The timing echoes back to the dawn of time.The waters of the flood dried up on the first of the first month (ri’shown). Passover celebrates Israel’s deliverance from the . . . . Continue Reading »
Israel’s feasts both followed the agricultural calendar and reenacted Israel’s past. Passover, Pentecost and Booths celebrated various phases of planting, growth, and harvest.Israel’s feasts reconciled nature with salvation history. The reconciliation was ritual, calendrical.The . . . . Continue Reading »
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