Peter J. Leithart

What’s new about New Institutional Economics (NIE)? In their editorial introduction to Handbook of New Institutional Economics, Claude Menard and Mary Shirley explain that NIE abandons certain assumptions of neoclassical economics, specifically the assumptions that actors possess . . . . Continue Reading »

In an essay on sacred law in ancient Athens (The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law, 67), Robert Parker assesses the scope and limits of freedom of speech and religion.He notes, “If one asks how tolerant of unorthodox teachings (and cults) Athenian society was in practice, the . . . . Continue Reading »

Sacred Systems by Eric Kyle is tough going. He covers “systems” of personal transformation and spiritual formation from Philo through the Didache, Bonaventure, Erasmus and de Sales and William Law, to Dallas Willard. Kyle is interested in the “system” that each advocates . . . . Continue Reading »

Death, not sin, is the great problem for Israel’s patriarchs. There is remarkable little talk of “sin” in Genesis. Sin waits for Cain (4:7), the sin of Sodom rises up before the Lord (18:20), Abimelech sins against Abrhaham (20:6, 9), Joseph refuses to commit the sin of . . . . Continue Reading »

Each of the seven messages to the churches ends with a promised gift to the victors, those who overcome. These are (the numbers refer to the number of the letter):1. Eating from the wood of life in Paradise.2a. A crown of life.2b. Rescue from the second death.3a. Hidden manna.3b. White stone with a . . . . Continue Reading »

When Israel tried to reserve some manna and keep it overnight, it rotted and sprouted worms. Except on the Sabbath: On the eve of the Sabbath, they “rested” (nuach) the baked manna until morning and it was not rotted (Exodus 16:23-24). The manna rested as Yahweh rested (nuach) on the . . . . Continue Reading »

Beckett Remembering/Remembering Beckett, edited by James and Elizabeth Knowlson is a compilation of reminiscences by and about Samuel Beckett.The collection covers his entire life, from childhood through years of obscurity, to his later triumphs. It includes recollections from friends, . . . . Continue Reading »

In a 2010 piece in Theology Today, Leslie Goode summarizes some of the challenges posed to post-Girardian Christian apologetics and anthropology by Kathryn McClymond’s Beyond Sacred Violence.McClymond argues that violence is not a universal feature of sacrifice, and even where it is . . . . Continue Reading »

Oliver and Joan Lockwood O’Donovan pithily sum up Tertullian’s argument in De corona militis (From Irenaeus to Grotius, 24):“By concentrating on the particular issue of whether a Christian should wear the military chaplet on ceremonial occasions, it manages to take for granted . . . . Continue Reading »

Command, Clement of Alexandria wrote, involved “caution, risk taking, and the union of the two,” and these expressed themselves in words, deeds, or word-deeds. Moses was the great model of command, not only to Israel but to the Greeks (Stromateis, 1.24).Moses’ night march through . . . . Continue Reading »