Peter J. Leithart

Jesus instructs His disciples to store treasure where moth and rust cannot corrupt, that is, in heaven. Hosea 5:12 sheds some light on that.  Yahweh is in the midst of condemning priests and kings for their harlotry.  Priests don’t teach Torah and the kings move landmarks, so Yahweh . . . . Continue Reading »

In the same 1972 article mentioned earlier, Nelson argues that the early medieval church’s “tolerance” was largely a matter of institutional limits: “It seems to me misleading to characterize [the Church’s] earlier attitude as ’relatively liberal’. . . . . Continue Reading »

In a 1972 article, Janet Nelson argued that medieval heresy  arose from a “crisis of theodicy” that arose because of an increasingly unstable and dislocated society.  Mixed with these motives were worries about purity: Heretical groups believed themselves to be liberating . . . . Continue Reading »

Luther Peterson writes, “The confessionalization thesis is a fruitful instrument in explaining the transformation of medieval feudal monarchies into modern states, in particular how the new states changed their inhabitants into disciplined, obedience and united subjects.  According to . . . . Continue Reading »

An eighth-century iconodule tract claims that the iconoclasts have “perpetuated the work of the Jews,” and compared the iconoclasts to Jewish priests conspiring against Christ.  Like many other ironodule treatises, it accused the Jews of corrupting the minds of iconoclast emperors. . . . . Continue Reading »

Constantine has often been blamed for mistreatment of Jews in the Roman empire, but that blame has been misplaced.  He did little to change the legal status of Jews or tighten restrictions on them. Guy Stroumsa, however, has suggested that Constantine had a more subtle role in a . . . . Continue Reading »

In the same 2003 article, Cameron comments on the iconodule use of heresiological methods in dealing with the iconoclasts after the Second Council of Nicea: ”the victorious iconophiles hada strong interest in endorsing their council as the seventh and culminating representative of a . . . . Continue Reading »

Epiphanius’s Panarion or Medicine Chest was a compendium of heresies and their cures, and inspired an entire genre of “heresiologies.”  The book is often dismissed with some hostility by Byzantine historians, but Averil Cameron notes that it displays some literary skill. . . . . Continue Reading »

Bulgakov writes, “By nourishment in the broadest sense we mean the most general metabolic exchange between the living organism and its environment, including not just food but respiration and the effects of the atmosphere, light, electricity, chemistry, and other forces acting on our . . . . Continue Reading »

INTRODUCTION Parenting is future-oriented.  You are raising children to be faithful disciples of Jesus in the next generation.  We can do that well only when we parent in the Spirit, since the Spirit is the Spirit who makes future. THE TEXT “For we know that if our earthly house, . . . . Continue Reading »