Peter J. Leithart

In one of his many provocative asides during his lectures on Revelation, James Jordan suggests that the sevenfold praise of the Lamb (5:12) matches the sevenfold description of Jesus in the first vision (1:14-16). Jordan doesn’t elaborate, so let’s see how this works out. As usual, some . . . . Continue Reading »

Thomas (ST II-II, 2, 3) asks whether faith is necessary for salvation or the “perfection” of human nature. Citing Hebrews 11:6, he concludes, of course, that faith is necessary, and in the process argues that rational creatures reach perfection not only “in what belongs to it in . . . . Continue Reading »

That hint of a slightly canceled question mark at the end of sentences ? You know what I mean ? Seems pretty innocuous ? Milbank doesn’t think so ( The Future of Love: Essays in Political Theology ): “People who fondly imagine themselves the subjects of their ‘own’ choices . . . . Continue Reading »

In The Ways of Judgment: The Bampton Lectures, 2003 , Oliver O’Donovan suggests that the notion of world government is conceptually contradictory: “World government is an abstract idea: the government of a people with no internal relations of mutual recognition. A people with no . . . . Continue Reading »

Senator Albert Beveridge described our mission in 1898: “God has . . . made us the master organizers of the world to establish system where chaos reigns. He has given us the spirit of progress to overwhelm the forces of reaction throughout the earth. He has made us adept in government that we . . . . Continue Reading »

In his recent Republic of Grace , Charles Mathewes describes the widely known but still startling demographic crisis of Europe: “By midcentury, including immigration, Europe’s population is projected to be 13 percent smaller, with the working age population declining by 27 percent, and . . . . Continue Reading »

Elizabeth Shakman Hurd ( The Politics of Secularism in International Relations ) notes the role that Islam plays in Western views of its own secular order: “More than any other single religious or political tradition, Islam represents the ‘nonsecular’ in European and American . . . . Continue Reading »

James Jordan offers this argument to conclude that only firstborn between the ages of one month and five years died at Passover: 1. The redemption payment for the excess number of firstborn, when the Levites replaced them, was five shekels apiece (Numbers 3:46-48. 2. In the redemption schedule in . . . . Continue Reading »

Thomas (ST II-II, 2, 1) offers this neat spectrum of varieties of “acts of intellect” that have “unformed thought devoid of a firm assent”: Thos that “incline to neither side” are doubts; those that “incline to one side rather than the other, but on account . . . . Continue Reading »

Deuteronomy 10:18: The Lord executes justice for the orphan and widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. As Pastor Sumpter said in his sermon, the city of God is a city of love, and it’s no accident that the central ritual act in this city is a common meal. For . . . . Continue Reading »