Peter J. Leithart

INTRODUCTION Our understanding of the Spirit’s work is often truncated.  We think the Spirit works “personally” but miss the “political” work of the Spirit.  For Micah, though, the Spirit is a Spirit of justice, power, and political courage. THE TEXT “Hear . . . . Continue Reading »

Islamicists are often accused of elevating political conflicts into cosmic ones.  They can’t help “religionizing” conflict, given their pre-modern, irrational, non-secular assumptions. Then Andrew Sullivan writes, shortly after 9/11: “What is really at issue here is the . . . . Continue Reading »

Critics often complain that Supreme Court decisions have removed contentious issues from the political arena, where they can be debated and decided by citizens and their representatives.  That is, it appears, no accident.  In a 1969 article on the Harvard Law Review that was cited in . . . . Continue Reading »

In a lengthy review of the career of Justice Hugo Black, Philip Hamburger ( Separation of Church and State ) lays out his clan connections and the anti-Catholic animus that motivated his views on politics and law.  One supported boasted that Black had visited “Klaverns” all over . . . . Continue Reading »

In his majority opinion in the 1940 Minersville School District v. Gobitis case, which dealt with the question of whether school districts could require students to salute the American flag, Felix Frankfurter wrote: “The ultimate foundation of a free society is the binding tie of cohesive . . . . Continue Reading »

In his book on Dostoevsky, Nicholas Berdyaev sets up a series of comparisons and contrasts between Dostoevsky and Nietzsche.  Both recognize that man as he has been conceived in earlier ages is dead.  Both know that man is “terrible free.”  Both know that Humanism has . . . . Continue Reading »

In an essay in Engaging Economics: New Testament Scenarios and Early Christian Reception , Aaron J. Kuecker contrasts the economics of the Spirit in Luke-Acts with the health and wealth gospel on offer in some “Spirit-filled” churches.  Instead of guaranteeing an increase of net . . . . Continue Reading »

Public health, argues Gary Ferngren ( Medicine and Health Care in Early Christianity ), was a Christian invention: “Except for making supplications to the gods, [ancient Greco-Roman] civil authorities did little to alleviate the situation [during plagues].  Responsibility for health was . . . . Continue Reading »

Josiah Ober ( Democracy and Knowledge: Innovation and Learning in Classical Athens ) cites a study by organization theorist James March that shows through case studies of business firm “innovation and learning are potentially contradictory drives: social learning is valuable in that learning . . . . Continue Reading »

Chernyshevsky’s 1863  What Is To Be Done? - described by Joseph Frank was “one of the most successful works of propaganda ever written in fictional form,” inspiring Lenin among others - describes a romantic triangle between two medical students and their love, Vera Pavlovna. . . . . Continue Reading »