Peter J. Leithart is President of the Theopolis Institute, Birmingham, Alabama, and an adjunct Senior Fellow at New St. Andrews College. He is author, most recently, of Gratitude: An Intellectual History (Baylor).

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Slain Slaying

From Leithart

One of the heads of the sea beast is “slain” (Revelation 13) and then healed. It is an obvious parody of death and resurrection. Everyone in Revelation follows a slain-and-healed beast; it’s just a choice of which one. The Lamb is the one slain (5:6, 9, 12), slain long before the . . . . Continue Reading »

True Beast

From Leithart

The sea beast that appears in Revelation 13 is a composite of beasts from Daniel 7, with features of leopard, bear, and lion and seven heads equal to the total number of heads on the beasts that Daniel sees in vision. But the beast is also a parody of Yahweh, who threatens to tear and devour Israel . . . . Continue Reading »

Music, Ritual, Speech

From Leithart

In a Mars Hill Audio with Ken Myers, Christopher Page discusses teh ritualizing effects of music. Speech is much more tonally and rhythmically complicated than music. To reduce all the tones and variations in speech to a seven-note scale is a radical simplification of sound, and, Page thinks, moves . . . . Continue Reading »

Easter

From Leithart

Matthew 28 1 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. 3 His . . . . Continue Reading »

Holy Saturday

From Leithart

Psalm 88 1 O LORD, God of my salvation, I have cried out day and night before You. 2 Let my prayer come before You; incline Your ear to my cry. 3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to the grave. 4 I am counted with those who go down to the pit; I am like a man who has no . . . . Continue Reading »

States and Phone Companies

From Leithart

Alasdair MacIntyre’s comment is often quoted, and exaggerated in a curmudgeonly way, but it gets at so much of the truth of modern politics that it’s worth another citation: “The modern nation state, in whatever guise, is a dangerous and unmanageable institution, presenting itself . . . . Continue Reading »

Sonic placement

From Leithart

Ong still: To see, things must be in front of us. And we can only see the surfaces that are turned to us. Sight is sequential, giving us one thing after another. It is “nonsimultaneous”: “The actuality around me accessible to sight, although it is also simultaneously on hand, can . . . . Continue Reading »

Sonic community

From Leithart

Ong again: He notes that some critters (ants, fish) have a social organization of sorts without sound, but argues that for animals that emit sounds, sound signals establish social relations. This is due to the reciprocal character of sound: “Sounds which I produce tend to evoke responses from . . . . Continue Reading »

Senses and the inside

From Leithart

Ong explores how the various senses handle the distinction between inside and outside. Sight “presents surfaces,” depending on reflected light. We can see inside a body only by opening it up. Sight of an interior has to be invasive, surgical; that invasion can be healthy, but it often . . . . Continue Reading »