Peter J. Leithart

Blumenfeld again, quoting Wayne Meeks: “The household, especially in Romans times, develops into a vast and complex system of inner and outer connections of allegiances and obligation, a ‘network of relationships, both internal - kinship, clientela , subordination - and external: ties . . . . Continue Reading »

Bruno Blumenfeld ( Political Paul: Democracy and Kingship in Paul’s Thought (Journal for the Study of the New Testament) ) argues that Aristotle is lurking behind Paul when the apostle describes himself as a “wise master builder” (1 Cointhians 3:10): “Aristotle calls . . . . Continue Reading »

Since Mauss, gift v . market and state has been homologous with premodern v . modern. Nonsense, Godbout argues. Alongside the state and market systems, more fundamental than either, is the primary sociality of family, neighbors, personal relations - the realm of the gift. He writes, “before . . . . Continue Reading »

Early on in his The World of the Gift , Jacques Godbout offers this intriguing vignette: “A retired civil servant, an atheist and rationalist, totally secular, does volunteer work with a religious order that cares for the poor. ‘You know, I receive more than I give,’ he is quick . . . . Continue Reading »

In his book on Dostoevsky, Rowan Williams neatly catches the complex intertwining of the love of self, other, and God: “To love the freedom of the other [that is, the otherness of the other] is also to love oneself appropriately - as an agent of God’s giving of liberty to the neighbor, . . . . Continue Reading »

John pronounces a blessing on those who “keep” the things written in the book (Revelation 1:3). That certainly includes “doing what the book requires,” but Revelation is not mainly a set of orders but an unveiling of Jesus. Keeping thhe words of the book includes but is not . . . . Continue Reading »

Revelation (1:1) opens by describing the conduit by which the apocalypse of Jesus gets to His slaves. There are two processes, fractally related. First, God the Father gives apocalypse to Jesus, who in turn gives it to the slaves: Father - Son - slaves. Apocalypse, unveiling, is the Father’s . . . . Continue Reading »

A few entries from the 1899 ABCs for Baby Patriots . C is for colonies Rightly we boast, That of all the great nations Great Britain has the most. D is for daring We show in the field Which makes every enemy Vanish or yield. E is for empire Where sun never sets; The larger we make it The bigger it . . . . Continue Reading »

God doesn’t send dreams, Aristotle argued. How did he know? If God were sending dreams, He would send them to a better sort of folk: “it is absurd to hold that it is God who sends such dreams, and yet that He sends them not to the best and wisest, but to any chance persons” and . . . . Continue Reading »

Luke is often opposed (as in Badiou) as a pro-Roman conservative over against the radical Paul. Rowe suggests an alternative, and far more convincing, reading of the politics of Acts: “On the one hand, Luke narrates the movement of the Christian mission into the gentile world as a collision . . . . Continue Reading »