Peter J. Leithart

In Incarnation: The Person and Life of Christ (19), TF Torrance warns about the inevitably psychologizing and anthropologization that occurs when “the witness of the evangelists and the other New Testament authors reposes ultimately upon Jesus’ own self-consciousness.” In the . . . . Continue Reading »

Barth cites this passage from the Epistle to Diognetus to emphasize the gentleness of God in His self-revelation in the Son. God sent His very son: “He did not, as one might have imagined, send to men any servant, or angel, or ruler, or any one of those who bear sway over earthly things, or . . . . Continue Reading »

For Barth ( Church Dogmatics The Doctrine of the Word of God, Volume 1, Part 2: The Revelation of God; Holy Scripture: The Proclamation of the Church , 34), the incarnation reveals that God is free for us, pro nobis . But Trinitarian theology is the affirmation that is freedom is grounded in the . . . . Continue Reading »

Peter Leithart’s new project is highly exciting and deserves the widest support. As one of the leading theologians of our times, Leithart has uniquely managed to combine fresh Biblical and historical scholarship with cultural engagement at every level from high to popular. He has also shown . . . . Continue Reading »

At the end of her discussion of the uses and abuses of Gregory of Nyssa in TF Torrance and Robert Jenson ( Gregory of Nyssa, Ancient and (Post)modern , 48-49), Morwenna Ludlow suggests that “the major difference is in the whole aim of their systematic theological projects.” Torrance is . . . . Continue Reading »

The sheer reality of Jesus Christ is, Barth argues ( Church Dogmatics The Doctrine of the Word of God, Volume 1, Part 2: The Revelation of God; Holy Scripture: The Proclamation of the Church , 31 ), the demonstration that God is “God not only in Himself but also in and among us, in our . . . . Continue Reading »

In the old Book of Common Prayer marriage liturgy, the man says these words as he places a ring on his wife’s finger: “With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, with all my worldly goods I thee endow.” That “I thee worship” jars. But it has biblical . . . . Continue Reading »

God has no needs. Philo, Seneca, and classic Christian theology agree on that. But I think the explanation differs. Seneca ( On Benefits (The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca) , bk. 4) explains that “God bestows upon us very many and very great benefits, with no thought of any return, . . . . Continue Reading »

Genesis 1:29: And God said, See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food . . . . I have given every green herb for food. Trees were first given for food. God made them to turn water and . . . . Continue Reading »

Advent is the season of coming, since we commemorate the coming of God’s Son in flesh. Advent is just as much a season of giving, since we glorify the God who so loved that He gave. Distorted as it can become, Christmas giving is a profoundly right way to celebrate the incarnation. By giving . . . . Continue Reading »