Peter J. Leithart

A student notes that foot-washing is an act of hospitality, in places like Genesis 18 and elsewhere. It is also required of priests entering the tabernacle. These amount to the same thing. Priests are given water to wash as they are welcomed into Yahweh’s house. Purity rules are, perhaps, not . . . . Continue Reading »

Jesus kept all the laws. He never broke the Sabbath. He fulfilled the purity rules, I blurted out in class a few days ago. How? a student want to know. How does Jesus keep purity rules? Here’s my best, belated shot: Levitical purity rules are rules of cleansing. Just as the force of the . . . . Continue Reading »

“Sacramental union” between the “sign” and the “thing” can and has been used to separate: Because there are two entities, sign and union, it’s possible that there is one without the other. In classic Reformed theology, “sacramental union” . . . . Continue Reading »

In an article in SJT , Paul Rhodes Eddy summarizes the results of recent scholarship on the origins of Manicheanism. Since the publiscation of the Cologne Mani Codex in the 1970s, the standard views of the origins of the movement have “been decisively overturned.” The new evidence, Eddy . . . . Continue Reading »

In 1598 English Protestant John Rainolds (Reynolds) published a dialogue he had engaged in with Catholic John Hart. One line of argument linked the transition from Israel’s Old Covenant ceremonies and worship with a challenge to Roman “Judaizing.” It was a popular argument, going . . . . Continue Reading »

How can we baptize those who cannot believe and obey? asks the Large Emden Catechism (1551), written by John a Lasco for the churches in Emden, Friesland, in 1546. When he fled to England, Jan Utenhove translated it into Dutch in 1551. The answer is that the grace of God, which was “declared . . . . Continue Reading »

If baptism were denied to infants, would the grace of God be diminished by the coming of Christ? So asks Calvin in his 1545 Catechism. His answer: “Yes; for the sign of the bounty and mercy of God toward our children, which they had in ancient times, would be wanting in our case, the very . . . . Continue Reading »

NPP types often claim that the Reformers projected their own issues back into their interpretations of Paul. No doubt that happened, but (influenced by Augustine’s treatment of Pauline theology) they were more careful to note that Paul’s central concern was with Jew/Gentile questions . . . . Continue Reading »

According to Paula Fredriksen’s wonderful analysis in Augustine and the Jews: A Christian Defense of Jews and Judaism , Augustine dramatically, even revolutionarily, shifted the traditional Christian understanding of law and gospel: “The old antagonistic contrast between Law and gospel . . . . Continue Reading »

Why, Augustine asks, did Moses make Israel drink the ground-up gold of the calf? It’s an allegory of incorporation of the Gentiles. The golden calf is Gentile idolatry, but it is broken and humbled, ground down to dust, and then sprinkled on the water for Israel to drink - Israel here . . . . Continue Reading »