Peter J. Leithart

Isaiah 59:15b is a sharp turn in the chapter. It’s the first time Yahweh does something: He “sees,” and in Scripture when Yahweh sees He’s getting ready to act. Sight means inspection, surveillance, gathering of evidence. God sees in order to judge.What he sees . . . . Continue Reading »

Within current political discourse, “rights-talk” is individualist and liberal, while “responsibility” is communitarian. As Wolterstorff points out (Justice in Love,86-7), though, the concept of “rights” is as inherently social as the concept of . . . . Continue Reading »

“Presence” has been subjected to withering attacks for decades, but Antonio Lopez ( Gift and the Unity of Being , 23-8) wants to rescue it. In his description, though, presence is virtually the opposite of what postmodernism claims it is. To say that “being is presence” . . . . Continue Reading »

The aim of Jesus’ death and resurrection is to form the church. Jesus’ death and resurrection establish the foundation for a people conformed by the Spirit to the crucified and risen Lord, freed from the powers, united in one new man.The church is the final cause of the atonement. . . . . Continue Reading »

Isaiah 59:14 deftly sketches a portrait of a corrupted city. Judgement and righteousness are far away, and the reason is because of the way truth and uprightness is treated. When truth is spoken or done, it stumbles in the street, probably tripped. Uprightness doesn’t even get into the city: . . . . Continue Reading »

Isaiah 59:13b begins and ends with similar phrases: “speaking oppression” translates dabber-‘osheq , and the verse ends with the phrase “lying words” ( dibbre-shaqer ). In between, Isaiah uses an analogy of conception and birth to describe the plans of the wicked: They . . . . Continue Reading »

Few passages of Scripture have so high a concentration of terms for sin as Isaiah 59. To wit: pasha’ = rebel, transgress (once as verb, v 13; 3x as noun, vv 12, 20) awon = guilt (3x, vv 2, 3, 12) awen = sin, iniquity (3x; vv 4, 6, 7) chattat = sin (2x; vv 2, 12) ra’ = evil (2x vv 7, 15; . . . . Continue Reading »

North Korea keeps warning that it’s ready to test devastating weapons. Sometimes the warnings include a threat against South Korea or the United States. As George Friedman points out, it doesn’t seem to make sense to develop a weapons system in public: “If the test fails, you look . . . . Continue Reading »

Gombis ( The Drama of Ephesians: Participating in the Triumph of God , 51-2)illustrates the way powers work by transcending individual choice and creating enslaving institutions by describing a discovery that he and his wife made when they began to work with the urban poor. Why do people remain in . . . . Continue Reading »

Timothy Gombis argues ( The Drama of Ephesians: Participating in the Triumph of God , 28-31; ch. 4) that Paul follows a “divine warrior” story-line in Ephesians 1-2. Drawing on Longman and Reid’s God Is a Warrior , Gombis says that the divine warrior story moves through these . . . . Continue Reading »