Peter J. Leithart

It was much better for God to create humanity from one individual than from several, Augustine argues (City of God, 12.21). Noting the difference between the creation of animals from the ground and the creation of Eve from Adam, Augustine notes, “as to the other animals, He created some . . . . Continue Reading »

“What kind of an appeal does this have for a reader - especially one from a post-Christian society like our own-who does not share Herbert’s theological premisses?” asks Stephen Prickett in his TLS review of John Drury’s Music at Midnight: The Life and Poetry of George . . . . Continue Reading »

Augustine discerns an inner connection between imperium and pornography.Imperium is the political form of the libido dominandi. Pornography is the sexual form of the same libido. Both imperium and porn reduce human persons to bodies to be manipulated for the manipulator’s . . . . Continue Reading »

In 1907, Ira M. Price, a member of the original faculty of the University of Chicago and professor of ancient languages and literatures from 1892-1925, concluded a discussion of the parallels between Genesis and other ANE documents with this observation (The Monuments and the Old . . . . Continue Reading »

Jody Bottum’s new An Anxious Age is as idiosyncratic, quirky, eloquent, and insightful as its author.Bottum offers a spiritual reading of contemporary America, starting from the insight that American culture has been re-enchanted, our “metaphysical realm . . . repopulated with . . . . Continue Reading »

David Nelson’s The Interruptive Word is a lucid exploration of the difficult theology of Eberhard Jungel, stressing, as Nelson’s subtitle has it, “the sacramental structure of God’s relation to the world.”At the center of Jungel’s theology is the claim that, . . . . Continue Reading »

Rosenstock-Huessy argues in Speech and Reality that speech creates space and time:“Without speech, the phenomena of time and space cannot be interpreted. Only when we speak to others (or, for that matter, to ourselves), do we delineate an inner space or circle in which we speak, from the . . . . Continue Reading »

Deflating postmodern irony has been a long time coming. Donald Nichol sees it aborning already in the heyday of classicism, with Alexander Pope’s third, and last, great poem.”The Rape of the Lock represents Pope’s acknowledgement of the triumph of style over substance – a . . . . Continue Reading »

“What makes this team special?” a reporter asked UVA basketball coach Tony Bennett after his Cavaliers beat Syracuse to sew up the regular-season ACC championship.“Humility,” Bennett replied, then looked down and waited for the next question. He explained a moment later: His . . . . Continue Reading »

Evan Selinger reports at Wired on BroApp, which helps you manage relationships by sending automated messages to the object of your eternal devotion.BroApp’s creators describe it as “a ‘clever relationship wingman’ (their words) that sends ‘automated daily text . . . . Continue Reading »