Peter J. Leithart

Augustine puzzled over the mysteries of memory and forgetfulness. Where are memories “stored”? Where do they go when we forget something? You forget where you left your phone, or forget what you were going to say, and then it comes back to you. Where was it in the meantime?Forgetfulness . . . . Continue Reading »

In his introduction to Kierkegaard’s Kierkegaard’s Attack Upon “Christendom” 1854-1855, Walter Lowrie suggests that Kierkegaard was “moreevidently andmore fundamentally a Catholicor perhaps it would be better to say,more consciously in revolt against . . . . Continue Reading »

Modernity is marked by the reduction of causes to efficient causes, and the elimination of final causation, of teleology or purpose.Final causes are not so easily eliminated, Hart argues (The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, 78-9).Our experience is not “an immediate perception . . . . Continue Reading »

Naturalistic explanations of nature’s existence are impossible, David Hart contends (The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, 96), because “nature . . . is that which by definition already exists.”Nature’s explanation thus inevitably and “logically” . . . . Continue Reading »

The great change in the modern world picture was not the abandonment of the Aristotelian and Ptolmaic cosmology. That, argues David Hart (The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, 58-9) was only a ripple on the surface. The really big change came in the idea of causation:“The loss of . . . . Continue Reading »

The nations will be saved. They will come to the light (Isaiah 60:3). How? We can work backward through Isaiah.They come into the light that shines from Israel. That light is the light of Yahweh Himself dwelling among and shining through His translucent people.Israel becomes that light after Yahweh . . . . Continue Reading »

“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of Yahweh has risen (zarach) upon you,” Isaiah announces (60:1). It’s a rich statement.Yahweh’s glory is said to “rise” in Deuteronomy 33:2, as the Lord moves from Sinai to Seir with his 10,000 holy ones . . . . Continue Reading »

Psalm 37 is a wisdom Psalm that assures Israel that Yahweh will not let the wicked flourish forever. The faithful should persevere in seemingly fruitless faithfulness because the wicked who spring up like grass will also wither like grass.Part of this assurance is that the Lord will rescue His . . . . Continue Reading »

The NYTBR reviewer of Martin Gardner’s Undiluted Hocus-Pocus: The Autobiography of Martin Gardnerrecounts some of Gardner’s many pranks.“Once, a houseguest left behind a single glove at the home of Gardners friend Bob Murray. Murray went to several local department stores until he . . . . Continue Reading »

I have commented in the past on the bizarre Eucharistic imagery that ends Isaiah 49: “And I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh, And they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine; And all flesh will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior, And your Redeemer, the . . . . Continue Reading »