Peter J. Leithart

During the 1840s, Russian literary culture was overtaken by enthusiasm for French Romantic Socialism, mediated through novelists like George Sand.  The extent to which this liberal socialism was a humanistic reduction of Christianity is evident from the creed of V. Belinsky, the arbiter of . . . . Continue Reading »

Joseph Frank ( Dostoevsky: A Writer in His Time ) makes the intriguing argument that Dostoevsky’s use of Gogol (especially “The Overcoat”) in Poor Folk is parody, but parody that strengthens rather than undermines the central thematic thrust of Gogol’s work.  He writes: . . . . Continue Reading »

At the dedication of the city walls in Nehemiah 12, priests process around the walls carrying and blowing trumpets (vv. 35, 41).  Last time we saw priests, trumpets and city walls, they were the walls of Jericho tumblin’ down. At Jericho, priests with trumpets brought down the city walls . . . . Continue Reading »

David Bentley Hart writes somewhere about the revolutionary character of the gospel’s depiction of the tears of Peter after his denial of Jesus.  Ancient pagan writers, Hart argues, could only have seen the tears of a fisherman as material for parody, not pathos. This was explicitly the . . . . Continue Reading »

An article of mine is up at the First Things web site today: http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2010/05/newsweek-caesar-and-the-things-of-god . . . . Continue Reading »

The idea of the separation of church and state “began, in fact, with Jesus”, the editor of Newsweek assures us in a May 3 editorial on a federal judge’s recent decision that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. You can probably fill in the rest of the argument … Continue Reading »

In his treatise against Faustus the Manichean, Augustine cites 1 Timothy4 in a discussion of clean and unclean foods.  He is trying to demonstrate the harmony of Old and New, and parrying Faustus’ claim that Catholics as much as Manicheans reject the Old Testament.  Augustine . . . . Continue Reading »

Supporting his criticism of Arians using the name of their teacher instead of the name of Christ, Athanasius points to the fact that Greeks who turn to Christ and join the church cease to be called Greeks and become known as Christians ( anti Ellenon archontai christianoi kaleisthai ).  In . . . . Continue Reading »

Athanasius condemns the Arians for taking the name of Arius their teacher rather than Christ: “never at any time did Christian people take their title from the Bishopsamong them, but from the Lord, on whom we rest our faith. Thus, though the blessed Apostles have . . . . Continue Reading »

“I will return and dwell ( shakan ) in the midst of Jerusalem,” Yahweh promises (Zechariah 8:3). Then: “I will being them back, and they will dwell ( shakan ) in the midst of Jerusalem” (Zechariah 8:8). Israel, renewed in covenant with Yahweh, is His glory, as a bride is the . . . . Continue Reading »