Peter J. Leithart

From a detailed comparison of ANE prophetic/oracular texts with biblical ones, Wheaton’s John Walton ( Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible ) concludes that Near Eastern oracles differed from Israelite prophecies in . . . . Continue Reading »

ANE kings were, often literally, believed to be sons of the gods. We find something like the same notion in the Davidic covenant: “I will be a Father to him, and he will be a son to Me,” Yahweh tells David, apropos specifically of Solomon. In the Bible, though, Yahweh already has a son . . . . Continue Reading »

According to Henri Frankfort’s summary, “The Mesopotamian myth of beginnings knew neither single origin nor single authority. The primeval chaos contained two elements, sweet water and salt water - the male Apsu and the female Tiamat. This couple brought forth a multitude of gods whose . . . . Continue Reading »

In 1943, Hendrik Bolkestein published his dissertation in a German translation, Wohltatigkat und Armenflege im vor-christlichen Alterlsum: Ein Beitrag zum Problem “Moral und Gesellschaft . According to the reviewer in The Classical Journal , Bolkestein’s thesis was that Greek and Latin . . . . Continue Reading »

The Reformation, it is charged, secularized and de-sacralized European culture with its iconoclasm, its attack on relics, its revisions in sacramental theology. Isaiah 3-4 suggest a different assessment. Isaiah describes the stripping of priestly ornaments from the daughters of Zion (3:16-26), but . . . . Continue Reading »

INTRODUCTION At creation, Adam was placed in a garden God planted, but after the flood, Noah planted himself a vineyard (Genesis 9:20). In the exodus and conquest, Yahweh placed Israel in a land of fields and vineyards, and so made Israel His vineyard (cf. Isaiah 5:7). But Israel has not produced . . . . Continue Reading »

In that day, the Branch will be “beautiful” (Isaiah 4:2). Various words are used for “beauty” in this passage, and here the Hebrew is tzebi , which is typically translated as “roebuck” (e.g., Deuteronomy 12:15, 22; 14:5; 15:22; 2 Samuel 2:18; 1 Kings 4:23; etc.). . . . . Continue Reading »

Though the daughters of Zion are full of filth and blood, Adonai will wash and purge them, like sacrifices. So says Isaiah (4:4). Yahweh will cleanse by His Spirit of judgment and burning. The purifying power of the Spirit is underscored by a wordplay. The word for “purge” or . . . . Continue Reading »

“The world in its essence, is a community, a community of creator and created, and has its source, God. Thus concludes a recently published Princeton undergraduate thesis, recently recovered by Princeton’s Eric Gregory. The thesis was written in 1942 . . . . by John Rawls! Before he got . . . . Continue Reading »

A brief preview of the David Foster Wallace collection at the University of Texas Harry Ransom Center ( Newsweek , 11/29) shows that Wallace was not actually the “purely pomo author” that he might seem. The collection contains notes and files for his unfinished and forthcoming Pale King . . . . Continue Reading »