Peter J. Leithart

Megan Garber interviews Sherry Turkle, author ofAlone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Otherand of the forthcoming Reclaiming Conversation.In both books, Turkle argues that despite our constant connectedness we are more and more deprived of real conversation. She tells . . . . Continue Reading »

Brian Marr continues his examination of how the Trinity is revealed in the history of Israel at the Trinity House . . . . Continue Reading »

William Temple emphasizes in Christianity and Social Orderthat we are constituted in relationship:“this social nature of man is fundamentalto his being. I am not first some one on my own account who happensto be the child of my parents, a citizen oi Great Britain, and so forth. Ifyou take all . . . . Continue Reading »

In a 1987 essay in The Review of Politics, Glenn Tinder draws on Pascal, and Tocqueville, to describe what he calls the “diversional welfare state.” By that he means that the welfare state distracts us from what is truly important - God: “the welfare state of today may be . . . . Continue Reading »

Many of the disciples of Menno Simons are pacifists, and many are chary of any use of political power. Menno’s own politics were far more in the mainstream of Christian political thought. Heexhorted magistrates to listen to the demands of God laid out in Scripture. Oppress not the stranger, . . . . Continue Reading »

Good kings should imitate Constantine by preserving true religion and suppressing heresy and schism, argues Jacques Bossuet in his 1679 treatise on Politics Drawn from the Very Words of Holy Scripture(206).Heresy and schism are easy to identify, he thinks. Antiquity is the mark of true religion, . . . . Continue Reading »

CS Lewis insists in The Problem of Painthat not only is love not mere kindness, but that kindness is “the opposite pole from love.”Kindness “cares not whether its object becomes good or bad, provided only that it escapes suffering.” Love, by contrast, “demands the . . . . Continue Reading »

Wolterstorff points out (Justice in Love, 71-2) that in Niebuhr’s thought “conflict among self-interested parties was always up front . . . when he thought about justice.” Conflict is the clue that one should “go with justice rather than love” because “lovee is . . . . Continue Reading »

Isaiah 59 ends with Yahweh’s pledge of covenant faithfulness (v. 21). “This is my covenant with them.” What is that covenant?Two things: Spirit and words. Yahweh’s Spirit is “upon you” (cf. Isaiah 11:2; 42:1) His words are “in your mouth.”Spirit and . . . . Continue Reading »

Isaiah 59:18 is neatly symmetrical:A. According to their deeds (gemulah), accordingly He repays (yeshallem) -B. wrath to adversaries,C. recompense (gemul) to enemies,B’. to coastlandsA’. He repays recompense (gemul yeshallem)The literary symmetry mimics the symmetry of the message, . . . . Continue Reading »