Peter J. Leithart

INTRODUCTION Isaiah 24-27 constitutes a section of the prophecy often known as the “little apocalypse.” Isaiah sees the whole world devastated and ruined. Not only earth, but the whole of creation is coming apart at the seams (cf. Isaiah 24:21-23). THE TEXT “Behold, the Lord makes . . . . Continue Reading »

Romans 10:9-10: If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. A baptismal liturgy is an appropriate place for . . . . Continue Reading »

For the Greek philosophers, working with matter was menial, a task for slaves and other non-citizen workers. Commerce was dirty and repulsive. The only true work of a gentleman, the only true work of a prince or nobleman, was intellectual, philosophizing, which is to say, doing nothing. That is not . . . . Continue Reading »

Puzzling over the overlapping images of the faces of the cherubim and the tabernacle furnishings, with the help of James Jordan’s essay on orientation in Revelation. The east-west orientation, lion-bull, is fairly clear. East is the place of the altar, therefore the origin of the bull, who . . . . Continue Reading »

Hebrew has two main words for “south.” The first, negev , refers to the south country of Israel (Exodus 12:9; 13:1, 3, 14; etc.). The other word, teyman , is related to the word yamin , “right hand,” and means “right” as well as “south.” When it means . . . . Continue Reading »

Romans 10:9-10 has a neat chiastic structure: A. If you confess B. With your mouth the Lord Jesus C. And believe D. in your heart that God raised Him E. you will be saved D’. For with the heart C’. One believes unto righteousness B’. And with the mouth A’. Confession is . . . . Continue Reading »

I’m sure I’ve been told this before, but, as Chesterton realized, there’s a certain joy in discovering what you’ve known as if for the first time. Every commentators nowadays notes that the description of the tabernacle in Exodus 25-31 is laid out in seven speeches of Yahweh . . . . Continue Reading »

I offer some reflections on the timeliness of the work of JG Hamann over at http://www.firstthings.com/ . . . . Continue Reading »

Strange things are afoot among the intellectuals. Neo-Marxists Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri see the world divided into oppressive Empire and the resistant Multitude, and take inspiration from Saint Augustine’s two cities. Slavoj Zizek, who hailed Hardt and Negri’s 2000 book Empire as the “Communist Manifesto of the twenty-first century,” can’t stop quoting Chesterton. You can’t join the club of Continental deep thinkers nowadays unless you have published a book on the apostle Paul. Not that any of them actually believe any of it, but radicals have got religion… . Continue Reading »

The first section of Isaiah 23, verses 1-7, forms a small chiasm: A. Howl; ships of Tarshish, v 1 B. Sidon and Nile, vv 2-4a C. Sea speaks, v 4b B’. Report of Tyre reaches Egypt, v 5 A’. Tarshish; howl, vv 6-7 Two additional notes. First, the B section is marked off by an inclusio . . . . Continue Reading »