Peter J. Leithart

Tournay also has an explanation for the apparent mangling of names in the Song.  “Amminadab” appears where we might expect Abinadab, Shunammite where we might be thinking of Shulamite.  This, he argues, is purposeful.  The names are to bring to mind their historical . . . . Continue Reading »

Like other commentators on the Song, Raymond Jacques Tournay suggests that the “chariots of Amminadab” and the dance referredto at the end of Song of Song 6 allude to David’s entry into Jerusalem with the ark. What he adds is an allusion to the exile ad return: “In Song 7:1, . . . . Continue Reading »

David Brooks’s NYT editorial today puts Gen. McChrystal’s removal in cultural context.  Everyone in DC and in the military kvetches, Brooks says; it’s part of the culture, part of the way political groups maintain their cohesion over against everyone else.  It has always . . . . Continue Reading »

The Bible first mentions “fragrance” in connection with Noah’s sacrifice following the flood.  He offers up a pacifying (a “noachic”) fragrance by turning animals to smoke (Genesis 8:21). The next time there’s a fragrance, it’s Jacob dressed in . . . . Continue Reading »

Barth famously describes the incarnation as the Son’s journey into a far country, borrowing a phrase from the story of the Prodigal Son.  Is Jesus the Prodigal? The parable of Luke 15 doesn’t completely work as an allegory of Jesus; it’s an allegory of Israel in the first . . . . Continue Reading »

Israel, heaven and earth, the islands are to “rejoice and be glad” in Yahweh (Psalms 14:7; 16:9; 31:7; 32:11; 97:1, 8).  The combination of terms is used in liturgical contexts; rejoicing and being glad is an act of worship. Then Proverbs 23:24-25: Father and mother rejoice and are . . . . Continue Reading »

2 Thessalonians 3:13-15: But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good.  And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a . . . . Continue Reading »

The exodus is the paradigm of salvation in the New Testament.  Like Moses, Jesus escapes from murderous Herod, saves us from our enemies, and on the Mount of Transfiguration He discusses His coming “exodus” with Moses and Elijah. Jesus dies as the Passover Lamb, baptism is our . . . . Continue Reading »

Did Alexandrian Jews support the Arians?  Athanasius charged as much, and his assessment has been found convincing to more than one modern historian. Victor Tcherikover wrote, “Jews became openly hostile to the new rulers” after Constantine’s conversion, “and proffered . . . . Continue Reading »

Jews settled in Alexandria as soon as it was Alexandria, that is, in 332 BC.  In the first century AD, they were a powerful and sizable minority of the city.  Between 66 and 117 AD, however, they suffered a massive reversal.  Robert Louis Wilken ( Judaism and the Early Christian . . . . Continue Reading »