Peter J. Leithart

Isaiah (or Yahweh) issues an ironic invitation to “draw near” (57:3). It’s an invitation to liturgical approach ( qarab , regularly used in Exodus and Leviticus), immediately undercut by the identification of Israel as “sons of the diviner, seed of adulteress and . . . . Continue Reading »

Isaiah 57:1 is a convoluted sentence in Hebrew, beginning and ending with the same word ( tsadiq , “righteous one”) and stuttering all along the way. But the parallel of the first two clauses makes an essential point clear: A. The righteous one perishes B. And there is no man unto heart . . . . Continue Reading »

Paul employs patronage terminology with some frequency, and in 1 Corinthians he employs it mainly to secure his position against rivals for patronage of the Corinthian church. So argues Joshua Rice in Paul and Patronage: The Dynamics of Power in 1 Corinthians . Paul names himself father in 4:15, . . . . Continue Reading »

In his recently published Paul and the Synagogue: Romans and the Isaiah Targum , Delio DelRio attempts to explain the force of Paul’s unique phrase “obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5). He explores the use that Paul makes of Isaiah, and the interpretation of the prophecy found in the . . . . Continue Reading »

“Whenever we meet a human being, then, we meet that extraordinary creature who can think of time past and time to come, and times that never were,” writes Anthony Esolen in an essay on “the Subhumanities.” To reduce a human to his animal instincts is an act of violence: . . . . Continue Reading »

Newly installed as chairman of US International Freedom Commission, Robert George laments the decline of Christianity in Syria, Egypt, and elsewhere in the Middle East . He urges the US to make the projection of Christians a high priority: “In Egypt, I think we need to put pressure on the . . . . Continue Reading »

I offer a cheer for mystical theologians at the Trinity House site. . . . . Continue Reading »

In America’s Theologian: A Recommendation of Jonathan Edwards (125-7), Jenson summarizes Edwards’s discussion of atonement. Edwards begins with notion of “merit,” but he defines it in a way that, Jenson says, “amounts to its replacement.” Merit is something in a . . . . Continue Reading »

Seamus Heaney, the great Irish poet of mud and muck, is dead. No better tribute than to cite a few of his many haunting lines, these from his poem “Anahorish”: My ‘place of clear water,’ the first hill in the world where springs washed into the shiny grass   and . . . . Continue Reading »

With the help of the Bible and Rosenstock-Huessy, I reflect on the problem of family continuity at Firstthings.com. . . . . Continue Reading »