Peter J. Leithart

De Lubac ( Medieval Exegesis: The Four Senses of Scripture, Vol. 1 ) answers with a catena of quotations from the church fathers: “Scripture is like the world: ‘undecipherable in its fullness and in the multiplicity of its meanings.’ A deep forest, with innumerable branches, . . . . Continue Reading »

In Augustine’s version of Psalm 8, the title refers to wine-presses. That leads him into an extended meditation on how wine presses and threshing floors symbolize the church: “We may then take wine-presses to be Churches, on the same principle by which we understand also by a . . . . Continue Reading »

The notion that Greek culture is derivative from the East is an ancient one. Eusebius made the claim in his Praeparatio Evangelica . As summarized by Raoul Mortley ( The Idea of Universal History from Hellenistic Philosophy to Early Christian Historiography , 65), Eusebius claimed: “In a . . . . Continue Reading »

In a contribution to Portraits: Biographical Representation in the Greek and Latin Literature of the Roman Empire on Eusebius’s “construction” of Constantine in his Vita Constantini , Averil Cameron draws an illuminating comparison between Eusebius’ intentions and those of . . . . Continue Reading »

Andrew Bacevich has written a series of blunt, scouring assaults on American foreign policy and the way we use our military. By the sound of Rachel Maddow’s NYTBR review , he was soft-pedaling. Now the gloves are off, in his latest, Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and . . . . Continue Reading »

In his study of Pietas from Vergil to Dryden (73-5), James Garrison describes how Prudentius depicts the conversion of Rome to Christ while maintaining its fundamental Romanitas . Pietas , that original Roman virtue transferred from Troy, indicates both the continuity and discontinuity. “To . . . . Continue Reading »

The Hebrew word translated as “contrite” ( dakka’ ) in Isaiah 57:15 means “crushed” as in “crushed to powder.” In Psalm 90:3, it means “dust.” The word has a history in Isaiah. In Isaiah 3:15, Yahweh charges Judah with “crushing my people . . . . Continue Reading »

Isaiah 57:15’s declaration of Yahweh’s compassion for the lowly is memorable, and a good bit of its power comes from the structural and rhetorical patterning of the verse. It begins with a standard prophetic “thus says,” but quickly deviates from expectation. The speaker is . . . . Continue Reading »

According to Isaiah 57:13, Judah’s kibbutz of idols will be driven away. They are no more than breath/vanities ( hebel ; Deuteronomy 32:21) and they will be disbursed with a breath. The wind ( ruach ) of Yahweh will carry them all away. Sweeping away idols is one of the regular jobs of the . . . . Continue Reading »

Philip Jenkins wonders why “the United States seems so determined to eradicate Christianity in one of its oldest heartlands, at such an agonizingly sensitive historical moment.” Jenkins surveys Syria’s bewildering religious mixture, and notes that “Christians have done very . . . . Continue Reading »