Peter J. Leithart

Did Adam “fall” into sin?  If we follow the strict language of Scripture, it would seem not.  So far as I can find, Adam is never said to have “fallen.”  Adam sinners, transgressed, committed an act of transgression, and by his action sin and death entered the . . . . Continue Reading »

In answer to a reader’s question about the chronology of Solomon’s writings in the OT, I suggested this: 1. Proverbs is instruction to a son during his boyhood/adolescence/young adulthood.  That seems to put it early-ish in Solomon’s life.  He became king around 30 . . . . Continue Reading »

Exodus 7:20-21: All the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood.  And the fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink from the Nile. As Pastor Sumpter has pointed out, when Moses turns the Nile to blood, it only makes visible what was . . . . Continue Reading »

Exodus 7:19: Then Yahweh said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over their reservoirs of water, that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout all the land of . . . . Continue Reading »

When Moses turns the water of the Nile to blood, the Egyptians don’t have any water to drink.  Do the Israelites?  We’re not told.  In the second plague, frogs creep from the Nile and fill the land of Egypt.  Do they infest Goshen, where the Israelites live?  . . . . Continue Reading »

Warren Gage of Knox Seminary kindly agreed to let me post his essay on Protestant hermeneutics.  To find a pdf of the essay, click on “Downloads” at the top of the page and find the essay called “Crisis of Protestant Hermeneutics.” . . . . Continue Reading »

In his recent The Irony of Manifest Destiny: The Tragedy of America’s Foreign Policy (echoes of Niebuhr), William Pfaff argues that the real targets of Islamic violence are not Western or American but closer to home.  He notes that “For nearly a century Washington has supported the . . . . Continue Reading »

Many of the debates in the Reformed world these days have a sizable church-historical, historical-theological component.  What was the Reformation about?  How much was it in continuity with the patristic and medieval past?  To what extent did Protestant Orthodoxy or American . . . . Continue Reading »

Some thoughts arising from a discussion of Proverbs 29:8, 11 with Toby Sumpter. Verse 11 says that a fool “sends forth all his spirit, but a wise man holds it back.”  ”Sending forth spirit” is what Yahweh does in creating (Psalm 104:30), what Jesus does on the cross . . . . Continue Reading »

Yale’s David Gelernter reviews Martin Amis’ Pregnant Widow in the current issue of The Weekly Standard , and uses the occasion for reflections on the state of culture.  A few money quotes: “This postmodern era is the Age of Irony. Irony implies detachment. Detachment is . . . . Continue Reading »