Peter J. Leithart

Visser ( The Gift of Thanks: The Roots and Rituals of Gratitude , p. 118) notes, “The mobility of modern life demands . . . that our personal links receive repeated affirmation. The close-knit small social worlds that we create, like islands in the sea of our mass society, are essential to . . . . Continue Reading »

In her wonderful The Gift of Thanks: The Roots and Rituals of Gratitude , the incomparable Margaret Visser contrasts the freedom of modern gift-giving with the obligatoriness of gifts in “Gift societies”: “In our culture, once a gift is given, it belongs entirely to the receiver. . . . . Continue Reading »

Karuna Mantena ( Alibis of Empire: Henry Maine and the Ends of Liberal Imperialism , pp. 68-70) describes the rise of modern social theory (in line with Arendt, Strauss, and Wolin) as the displacement of politics by society. He disagrees with Strauss and others because he argues that the politics . . . . Continue Reading »

Karuna Mantena spends a chapter of his Alibis of Empire: Henry Maine and the Ends of Liberal Imperialism explaining the 19th-century origins of social theory. He begins by pointing to what he calls “one of the characteristic features of nineteenth century social theory,” namely, . . . . Continue Reading »

About a year ago, I was tried by the Pacific Northwest Presbytery of the PCA on charges of deviating from the Westminster Confession at a number of points. The Presbytery exonerated me of all charges. One of the underlying themes of the trial and the surrounding debates over the past several years . . . . Continue Reading »

INTRODUCTION Yahweh summons the nations from a distance to gather for a court session (Isaiah 41:1; cf. vv. 21-24). Yahweh is Judge. Just as importantly, Yahweh subjects Himself to scrutiny and judgment. THE TEXT “Keep silence before Me, O coastlands, and let the people renew their strength! . . . . Continue Reading »

Every theologian is a negative theologian in the sense that there are certain traditions and theologies that he defines himself against . Protestants have always defined themselves against Catholics, Lutherans against Reformed and vice versa, and within each tradition there are subtraditions that . . . . Continue Reading »

John 17:20-23: Jesus said, I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they be one, even as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they may be in us . . . . that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them, and Thou in me, that they . . . . Continue Reading »

By following the church calendar, we commemorate the events of our salvation each year. Trinity Sunday doesn’t celebrate an event. Instead, it shows that throughout the church year we commemorate the events of our salvation in order to encounter the God of our salvation. During Advent and at . . . . Continue Reading »

In a 1981 article in the Journal of Religious Ethics , Paul Camenisch points to the paradox of gifts. On the one hand, a gift is only a gift if the recipient “has no right or claim upon” the thing given. It the thing or payment is compensation, it is wages and not gift. Gifts are free. . . . . Continue Reading »