Peter J. Leithart

Baylor University Press is hosting a reception to celebrate the release of my Gratitude: An Intellectual History.It will take place at the First Things offices in Manhattan on Thursday, March 6, at 6 PM. For details, . . . . Continue Reading »

Jesus addresses seven letters to seven “angels” of the churches (Revelation 2-3). Commentators differ on whether the angels are spiritual beings, ecclesial guardian angels, or human beings, “messengers.”The letter to Ephesus seems decisive. There, Jesus charges that the angel . . . . Continue Reading »

The seven stars in Jesus’ hand are the angels of the churches, the seven lampstands are the churches (Revelation 1:20).In the temple imagery that John is drawing on, the lamps on the lampstand are the lamps themselves, the lights that make the lampstand luminous. The lampstand of the temple is . . . . Continue Reading »

The distinction between appearance and reality is an old saw in philosophy. It appears in the letters to the churches (Revelation 2-3) as an opposition between being and saying, a (distinctively Hebraic?) emphasis on the word.Several letters describe the challenge. At Ephesus, there are . . . . Continue Reading »

In his study of the sacramental shape of Eberhard Jungel’s theology, The Interruptive Word, R. David Nelson suggests that “in many types of ecclesiology, Jesus Christ and the church . . . are conceived as identical” (167).He offers several examples, mostly Catholic: . . . . Continue Reading »

Andrew Wilson thinks that the Ukrainian protesters have won. But the battle for a free Ukraine is just beginning. Russian won’t make it easy.“the new government in Ukraine, however it’s made up, will be given the briefest of ritualistic honeymoons before Russia uses every . . . . Continue Reading »

Douglas Rushkoff (Program or Be Programmed) argues that we don’t think enough about how our new technologies run, or how they are biased.Most of us know how to use software; few know how to make it, and we don’t think about how those who do make it are making their decisions, how their . . . . Continue Reading »

The Balaamites of Pergamum and Jezebel in Thyatira have the same teaching. Both entice the saints to fornication, which much be a spiritual form of adultery, and to each things sacrificed to idols.These twin sins link back to the apostolic decree after the Council of Jerusalem, which forbade . . . . Continue Reading »

The church at Smyrna will suffer “ten days” (Revelation 2:10). That suggests a brief tribulation, but why ten days?There are various speculations, but James Jordan’s suggestion seems the most fruitful: The ten day tribulation refers to the period between the feast of trumpets (Day . . . . Continue Reading »

Policy debates today are often framed as debates over state intervention, pro or con. It’s assumed that we know what a state intervention is.Ha-Joon Chang questions this assumption in a contribution to Institutions and the Role of the State. Whether child labor laws, environmental . . . . Continue Reading »