Peter J. Leithart

Many if not most commentators on Isaiah suggest that Isaiah 1 is set around the time of the Assyrian invasion of Judah in 701, a story detailed in Isaiah 36-39.  I took that position in my sermon notes earlier this week.  Then my colleague, Toby Sumpter, and a ministerial student, CJ . . . . Continue Reading »

PROVERBS 29:14 Verses 12-13 move toward the themes of verse 14.  Verse 12 is about a ruler who gives heed to falsehood, and verse 13 is about the poor.  Verse 14 combines the two interests with a statement about the role of a king. According to the Torah, judges are supposed to judge . . . . Continue Reading »

Those interested in Biblical Theology and related subjects will find a wealth of thoughtful and thought-provoking material here: http://beginningwithmoses.org/ . . . . Continue Reading »

Gregory charges Eunomius (11.5) with undermining the efficacy of sacraments.  Eunomius claims, “we, in agreement with holy and blessed men; affirm that the mystery of godliness does not consist in venerable names, nor in the distinctive character of customs . . . . Continue Reading »

A line from Dickinson: “the nerves sit ceremonious like tombs.”  This is an extremely complex literary device, or set of devices. First, personification: The nerves “sit” like people, and sit in a particular way, ceremoniously. Second, the personification spreads out to . . . . Continue Reading »

A student, Heather Denigan, is working on Emily Dickinson, and pointed me to this remarkable poem about baptism: I’m ceded, I’ve stopped being theirs; The name they dropped upon my face With water, in the country church, Is finished using now, And they can put it with my dolls, My . . . . Continue Reading »

Creation, Gregory of Nyssa insists, is not eternal: “For we have learned that the heaven and the earth were not from eternity, and will not last to eternity, and thus it is hence clear that those things are both started from some beginning, and will surely cease at some end.” On . . . . Continue Reading »

When I made some sharp comments about Thomas Oord’s book on love a few weeks back, Oord wrote to inform me that he’s written another book that deals more overtly with the themes I found lacking in his other book.  Oord conceded that I might remain unsatisfied even then, but I . . . . Continue Reading »

It seems common-sensical that the existence of something logically precedes its self-expression. Trinitarian theology assaults that common sense.  There is no Father except as He has a Son; no Father who has not always already generated His perfect image and likeness; no God who has not always . . . . Continue Reading »

I’m not convinced Gregory’s argument from opposites ( Against Eunimius 9.4) is sound, but it’s intriguing and engaging. Here’s the argument: Certain realities have direct opposites that cannot coexist.  Light cannot coexist with darkness, but expels and destroys it. . . . . Continue Reading »