Peter J. Leithart

John M. Lundquist argues that ancient temples were “associated with the realm of the dead, the underworld, the afterlife, the grave.”He states further: “The unifying feature here is the rites and worship of ancestors. The temple is the link between this world and the next. It has . . . . Continue Reading »

Paul says that everything that is in the light, everything that becomes visible, is light (Ephesians 5).He is writing about the light of the Father, Jesus, or the Spirit. If we are in that light, we ourselves become lights.But the claim is strictly true: Everything that the light shines on . . . . Continue Reading »

John Lundquist claims that secrecy is one of the features of temples and temple rituals in the ancient world. All temples are sacred space, which means secret space, off-limits to any but the authorized. He cites Exodus 19:12-13, 21-24 in support.This is certainly true of ancient temples in general, . . . . Continue Reading »

Exodus 18’s description of Jethro’s advice to Moses seems disconnected from its context. As Martin Hauge explains (Descent from the Mountain, 252), the story actually anticipates the entire narrative of chapters 19-40:“The story of the second day presents how parts of the Moses . . . . Continue Reading »

Recent studies of the Levitical system have questioned the “facile” links that commentators draw “between its ritual instructions and narratives, its theology, and Israel’s ritual practices” (James Watts, Ritual and Rhetoric in Leviticus, 15).Citing William Gilders . . . . Continue Reading »

James Watts (Ritual and Rhetoric, 87-88) calls attention to the repetitions of Leviticus 4-5, especially of the basic roots, cht (sin, sin offering) and ‘shm (guilt, trespass offering):“the refrain ‘sin that he sinned . . . as sin’ appears eight times (4:3, 14, . . . . Continue Reading »

Andrew Sullivan defends same-sex marriage as a “federalist” who is willing to wait for States to make the change. Not everyone is so patient, or Constitutional.CNN reports today that “Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department will issue a memo Monday that recognizes . . . . Continue Reading »

Lists typically don’t make for electrifying reading. Ancient lists in unknown languages less so. But in House Most High, A.R. George’s compilation of ancient Mesopotamian temple lists, the lists offer multiple insights into the structures of ancient religion.Topographical lists show . . . . Continue Reading »

For two and a half millennia, Mesopotamian cosmology saw the world as a multi-story universe. Wayne Horowitz (Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography) summarizes: “Sumerians and Akkadians understood the universe as consisting of superimposed levels separated by open space. From above to below, the . . . . Continue Reading »

“A tradition of seven heavens and seven earths was popular in the Near East during the later part of the first millennium B.C.E. and the first millennium C.E.,” writes Wayne Horowitz (Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, 217).He elaborates: “Surviving Hebrew and Arabic texts from this . . . . Continue Reading »