Peter J. Leithart

A morning’s harvest from the de Lubac garden. “Under the opposition of the letter and the spirit, or of the shadow and the truth, in its varied and sometimes, for us, paradoxical expressions, there is always the opposition of two peoples, of two ages, of two regimes, of two states of . . . . Continue Reading »

The final chapter of the Song of Songs is filled with imagery of birth, and rebirth. The Bride longs to be as near to Dodi as a sister to her brother, united in a mother, nursing at the same breasts (v. 1). She wants to take Dodi into the “house of my mother,” where she will serve him . . . . Continue Reading »

“Let us spend the night in the villages,” says the Bride to her lover in Song of Songs 7:11b. “Villages” is kefariym , from kapar , to cover in the sense of atonement. Lexicons tell us that the word is used for “village” in 1 Chronicles 27:25, which may be the . . . . Continue Reading »

Most English translations render Song 7:5c as “The king is captivated by your tresses.” “Captivated” is not a felicitous translation, since the “capture” embedded in the word has been largely lost. The king might be captivated, but the Hebrew says that he is . . . . Continue Reading »

The bride’s eyes are like “pools in Heshbon, beside the gate of Bath-rabbim” (Song 7:4). Eyes are for inspection, organs of judgment. These are watery eyes that are like pools, and so there is a hint of a water-ordeal. And the eyes are like pools beside the gates, watching to see . . . . Continue Reading »

Two Psalms include polemics against idols, in almost identical language: “They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see . . . ” (Psalm 115:5-8; 135:15-18). Both, importantly, follow on the heels of poetic recountings of the exodus. Psalm 114 is about the Jordan and . . . . Continue Reading »

In a New Yorker interview, Simon Critchley discusses his recent The Faith of the Faithless: Experiments in Political Theology , which raises fundamental doubts about the possibility of a secular political order: “Even if you look at things like social democratic forms of government, which . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Corinthians 10:16-17: Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf. Today, the communion bread is being . . . . Continue Reading »

Some of you may have noticed during the past week: Lent is controversial. It is controversial partly because Christians have long abused it, partly because some see Lent as a symbolic boundary between Protestant and Catholic. Most of the Reformers retained Lent, but gave it a dramatically new form. . . . . Continue Reading »

Barth described theology as “an act of penitence and obedience” that works through “an attitude of prayer.” And he kept that Lenten image of theology before him by hanging a copy of the Isenheim Altarpiece over his desk. Matthew Boulton explains this in his God Against . . . . Continue Reading »