Peter J. Leithart

Christ is Risen! With those words, we enter a new season of the church calendar. We move from the preparatory, penitential season of Lent to the festive celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. The transition is real, but we can easily misunderstand it. We misunderstand Lent if we think that Lent . . . . Continue Reading »

Mark 14:38, 46-47, 51-52: Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation . . . . Then they laid hands on Jesus and took Him. And one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear . . . . .Now a certain young man followed Him, having a linen . . . . Continue Reading »

Wilhelm von Humboldt gives this profound explanation of the role of language in human life: “Just as the individual sound intervenes between object and man, the entire language does so between hum and nature acting upon him both externally and internally. He surrounds himself with an ambient . . . . Continue Reading »

The Christian Science Monitor reports that Ethiopian hyenas keep Lent: ” In the 55 days before Easter in Ethiopia, hyenas are forced to turn from scavenging to hunting to make up for Christians’ fasting traditions. Observant Ethiopian Christains give up meat and dairy for Lent, and it . . . . Continue Reading »

There’s a tiny liturgical movement occurring these days among Reformed churches, and a larger shift happening among Protestant Evangelicals. Critics of the movement rightly raise the question of whether this is simply another expression of American Christian consumerism: It’s the fad du . . . . Continue Reading »

Eric Enlow of the Handong University Law School in South Korea sent along these thoughts in response to my musings on Psalm 87, posted here a few weeks ago. The remainder of this post is from Eric. Your interpretation of Psalm 87 as reflecting a hidden ancient history reminds me of Amos 9, which . . . . Continue Reading »

In a 2006 article in Modern Theology , J. Warren Smith offers this summary of the Aristotelian argument for self-sacrifice for friends on behalf of the man of Noble Soul: “Aristotle . . . establishes the relationship between self-love and self-sacrifice. In his words one hears the echo of . . . . Continue Reading »

An article over at the Atlantic web site describes the original purpose of diamond engagement ring: “A now-obsolete law called the ‘Breach of Promise to Marry’ once allowed women to sue men for breaking off an engagement. Back then, there was a high premium on women being virgins . . . . Continue Reading »

In her new essay collection, When I Was a Child I Read Books: Essays , Marilynne Robinson suggests that the difference between the Eastern and Western US is that “in the West ‘lonesome’ is a word with strongly positive connotations.’” Wandering the forests of Idaho in . . . . Continue Reading »

I have a Good Friday meditation on beauty at the First AThings web site today: http://www.firstthings.com/ . . . . Continue Reading »