Peter J. Leithart

According to Galatians 4:17, the Judaizers seek to arouse the Galatians to see association with them by shutting them out. They shut the Galatians out so that those outside will clamor to get in. A clever and recurring ploy in all sorts of groups. Paul uses the verb ekkleisai (“shut . . . . Continue Reading »

What does Paul mean by the phrase stoicheia tou kosmou , “elementary principles of the world”? We get a clue by looking at the meaning of related Greek works. Stoicheion is related to a set of words that carry the connotation of “rank” or “series” or . . . . Continue Reading »

INTRODUCTION When Yahweh takes away the rulers of Judah (3:2-3), there’s no one left to lead besides children (v. 4) and women (v. 12). In Isaiah’s viciously satiric portrait of the “daughters of Zion” (3:16-24), we get a glimpse of the women who lead Judah. Yahweh will . . . . Continue Reading »

Isaiah 3:13-15: Yahweh stands up to plead, and stands to judge the people. Yahweh will enter into judgment with the elders of His people and His princes: For you have eaten up the vineyard; the plunder of the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing My people and grinding the faces of . . . . Continue Reading »

Romans 6:3-4, do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life . . . . . . Continue Reading »

In a recent issue of The New Yorker , Malcolm Gladwell dismissed the notion that social media can promote deep social change. Activists, he points out, take courage from the companionship of like-minded and close friends. Without that shared courage, movements buckle and die. And, he argues, social . . . . Continue Reading »

A wonderful passage from Chesterton, quoted with approval (for obvious enough reasons) by Slavoj Zizek: “When the world shook and the sun was wiped out of heaven, it was not at the crucifixion but at the cry from the cross (‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?’), the cry . . . . Continue Reading »

Postmodern sensibility has been described as the priority of image over reality, surface over depth, style over content, signifier over signified. The immediate Christian instinct is to turn those upside down - we are for reality and depth and content. That’s a superficial response. The more . . . . Continue Reading »

In her essay, Pickstock notes the synaesthetic biblical exhortation to “taste and see.” It’s a regular biblical theme, not only in the Psalm 34. Adam and Eve taste and see. So does Jonathan. So do the disciples on the road to Emmaeus. So do we, each week as the Lord’s table, . . . . Continue Reading »

Catherine Pickstock’s contribution to the aforementioned volume on Paul explores the relation of worship ad the senses. She begins with the Pascalian observation that human beings are between beasts and angels, but rather than seeing this as a tragic failure of human nature, Pickstock rightly . . . . Continue Reading »