Peter J. Leithart

A pregnant paragraph from Gellner. He discusses the challenges of specialized education in traditional societies, where specialists are “viewed ambivalently”: “In the end, modern society resolves this conundrum by turning everyone into a cleric, by turning this potentially . . . . Continue Reading »

Gellner provides a stimulating description of the interconnection of economic, political, cultural, and intellectual components of “industrial society,” which for him is a virtual equivalent of “modern society.” He begins with the Weberian description of modern society as a . . . . Continue Reading »

Specialization and division of labor is often seen as one of the marks of modern society. Ernest Gellner ( Nations and Nationalism (New Perspectives on the Past) ) notes that the situation is more complicated. There are, he observes, specialists in complex agrarian societies (like medieval Europe), . . . . Continue Reading »

God’s work in and with Israel is the pattern and prototype for His work in and with all nations. How far can we press the analogy? Babel unified the nations but they were dispersed. Yahweh chose Abram to launch a counter-Babel movement, and over the next half-millennium slowly, achingly . . . . Continue Reading »

John 1:14: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. God doesn’t need the incarnation any more than He needs the world. He would be the same infinitely joyful, infinitely lively and infinitely satisfied God if we had never existed and if Jesus had never been born. God doesn’t need the . . . . Continue Reading »

It’s often said that the ancients couldn’t conceive of the incarnation because they couldn’t conceive of the infinite inhabiting the finite. The real problem was more fundamental: The ancients couldn’t conceive of anything truly infinite. An infinite thing has no boundaries; . . . . Continue Reading »

Yahweh appears to Job in a whirlwind and challenges Job by reminding Him of His infinite creative power. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” He asks. “Who set its measurements? Where were you, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God . . . . Continue Reading »

Van Leeuwen offers this superb description of the purpose of Israel among the nations: “In the life, society, state and culture of Israel the Lord the Creator is active in carrying out his purposes. The religious ideas, the mythology, cult and ritual, the social and legal traditions, yes, and . . . . Continue Reading »

In his brilliant Christianity and World History , Arend Th. van Leeuwen argues that the phrase “ends of the earth” as a description of the GEntile lands alludes to the land/sea distinction of the original creation, and also that it puts the Gentiles in the position of being the . . . . Continue Reading »

BBC News reports that the US has been pressuring African countries to promote the gay rights agenda: “President Barack Obama has ordered US government agencies to put gay rights at the heart of foreign policy . . . . The US has said it will use foreign aid and diplomacy to fight . . . . Continue Reading »