Peter J. Leithart

In today’s Daily Telegraph , Fraser Nelson reviews the recent threats to Christians in the Middle East: “The Arab Spring was always going to mean danger for religious minorities, unleashing the Islamic extremists who previously were kept at bay. For all their evil, the old secular . . . . Continue Reading »

The first chariot-rider in the Bible is Joseph, who is praised as a ruler in Egypt as he rides in his chariot (Genesis 41:43), who takes amn entourage of chariots to greet his father’s entry to Egypt (Genesis 46:29), and who takes a “great company” of chariots and horsemen to his . . . . Continue Reading »

Nyssa: “Do you see the circle of glory among those who are alike? The Son is glorified by the Spirit; the Father is glorified by the Son; again the Son has his glory from the Father and the only-begotten thus becomes the glory of the Spirit. For with what shall the Father be glorified but . . . . Continue Reading »

Anatolios ( Retrieving Nicaea: The Development and Meaning of Trinitarian Doctrine ) offers this neat “Well, duh” summary of Nyssa’s reconceptualization of human passions. Hellenic philosophy made passibility both an ontological and a moral category. Passions were . . . . Continue Reading »

Gregory of Nyssa ( Against Eunomius 3.3) recognizes that the crux (!) of the debate between Arian and orthodox is the cross: “we say that the God who was manifested through the cross must be honored in the same way as the Father is honored while they consider the Passion as an obstacle to . . . . Continue Reading »

Berry again, waxing prophetic, and thanks again to Ken Myers. “In denying the holiness of the body and of the so-called physical reality of the world—and in denying support to the good economy, the good work, by which alone the Creation can receive due honor—modern Christianity . . . . Continue Reading »

Thanks to Ken Myers for passing on the following quotes from Wendell Berry’s essay “The Specialization of Poetry”:   “I do not believe that people who have experienced chaos are apt to praise or advocate any degree or variety of it . . . . Formlessness is, after all, . . . . Continue Reading »

Ramachandra notes a couple of limitations in recent post-colonial discussion. One is the blindness to the influence of Christianity. Christianity is “naively identified with Europe and the United states,” and thus missionaries, their achievements, and their disciples, are considered . . . . Continue Reading »

In God and the Crisis of Freedom , Richard Bauckham offers this superb example of freedom and self-creation: “If I make myself, for example, into a brilliant musician, then certainly I am exercising a real freedom to make all the choices, some no doubt very hard, that lead to this. But this . . . . Continue Reading »

In his The Just War Revisited (Current Issues in Theology) , Oliver O’Donovan distinguishes between collateral damage and indiscrimination (a violation of just war criteria) by pointing to the intention. How can intention be determined? He offers this analysis: “One can test the . . . . Continue Reading »