Peter J. Leithart

Chief Justice Rehnquist wrote in support of laws that ban flag-burning: “The flag is not simply another ‘idea’ or ‘point of view’ competing for recognition in the marketplace of ideas. Millions of millions of Americans regard it with an almost mystical reverence . . . . Continue Reading »

In War and the American Difference: Theological Reflections on Violence and National Identity , Hauerwas offers this sobering assessment of American Protestantism. American churches contributed massively to formation of America, but the God that Americans believe in “turns out to be the . . . . Continue Reading »

Harry Stout’s Upon the Altar of the Nation: A Moral History of the Civil War is a chilling book, but one of the most chilling moments comes at the end, in a quotation of a letter from General Philip Sheridan to Sherman in 1873: “In taking the offensive [against Indians] I have to select . . . . Continue Reading »

Peter Gordon has an excellent discussion of Jurgen Habermas’s alleged “turn to religion” in the latest issue of TNR . Gordon wants to show that Habermas has long shown interest in religion, and that his recent obsession with it is not evidence that he has abandoned his commitment . . . . Continue Reading »

Thomas ( ST II-II, 2, 7) argues that every saved person, including Adam, had explicit knowledge of the incarnation of Christ: “the object of faith includes, properly and directly, that thing through which man obtains beatitude. Now the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation and Passion is the . . . . Continue Reading »

At the beginning of the millennium, the saints sit on thrones and “judgment is given to them” (Revelation 20:4). The phrase is ambiguous: Does this mean “the power to judge was given them” or “they received a favorable judgment from the court?” The context of . . . . Continue Reading »

Wilfred McClay has neatly summarized the creed, scriptures, sacraments, and sacred places and times of America’s civil religion: “The same mix of convictions can be found animating the rhetoric of the American Revolution, the vision of Manifest Destiny, the crusading sentiments of . . . . Continue Reading »

Strayer argues that city-states and empires both had their problems, and that “The European states which emerged after 1100 combined, to some extent, the strengths of both the empires and the city-states. They were large enough and powerful enough to have excellent changes for survival - some . . . . Continue Reading »

Gregory VII won his battle, but lost the war. Joseph Strayer ( On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State (Princeton Classic Editions) ) notes that “by separating itself so clearly from lay governments, the Church unwittingly sharpened concepts about the nature of secular authority. . . . . Continue Reading »

Nietzsche in Beyond Good and Evil : “Philosophers . . . have wanted to furnish the rational ground of morality - and every philosopher hitherto has believed he has furnished this rational ground; morality itse,f however, was taken as a ‘given.’ . . . it is precisely because they . . . . Continue Reading »