Peter J. Leithart

Song of Songs 8:14: Hurry, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices. John came to announce the imminent Advent of the Bridegroom. Jesus came to promise He would come again through His Spirit, who readies the Queen for yet another Advent of the Bridegroom. As . . . . Continue Reading »

Singing is the primary expressions of joy in the Bible. Women greet David with singing, dancing, and tambourines when he returns from killing Goliath. Singers and musicians parade with Solomon to his coronation. Israel rejoices when Yahweh descends to the temple, and they sing. When God comes to . . . . Continue Reading »

In a 2010 essay in Political Theology , Daniel Bell, Jr. offers a sharp critique of Hardt and Negri and Amgamben. He notes that, in contrast to other democratic theorists, Hardt and Negri hold out a modest hope for “democratic polities [that are] fugitive, episodic, on the run and generally . . . . Continue Reading »

In de officiis 1.28, Ambrose mentions some who “considered it consonant with justice that one should treat common, that is, public property as public, and private as private.” He rejects the position: “this is not even in accord with nature.” He elaborates in terms of a . . . . Continue Reading »

Smith argues that Hardt and Negri’s proposals for resistance to empire are insufficiently radical (FL is “libertarian freedom”): “what the multitude desires is absolute freedom, and what the multitude opposes in Empire is its repression and restriction of freedom. But just . . . . Continue Reading »

Smith’s article sums up David Burrell’s argument that we cannot have freedom at all without a Creator as a final cause. Burrell writes: “if I cannot be pushed to will something, but only drawn to do so, not even God can cause me to do something freely, if we are thinking of an . . . . Continue Reading »

In a 2009 essay in Political Theology , Jamie Smith notes the difference between libertarian freedom and the Augustinian notion of freedom to pursue and do the Good. He puts the matter starkly: Quoting David Burrell, he argues that libertarian freedom “demands ‘that a free agent . . . . Continue Reading »

Robert Dodaro’s take on Christ and the Just Society in the Thought of Augustine confirms Bowlin’s criticisms of Markus. Late in his book, Dodaro summarizes Augustine’s correspondence with Macedonius, vicar of Africa, written in 413/14. Starting from an appeal for clemency for . . . . Continue Reading »

In a 1997 articles in the Annual of the Society of Christian Ethics , John Bowlin critiques the accounts of the “contradictions” or “tensions” between Augustine’s overall political theology and his advocacy of coercing Donatists into the church. Bowlin takes on RL . . . . Continue Reading »

Early on in Politics & the Order of Love , Eric Gregory comments, in response to anti-liberal Augustinians like Milbank and Hauerwas, that “theological orthodoxy and political liberalism are not alternative answers to the same question.” Analyzing Gregory’s work in the Journal . . . . Continue Reading »