Peter J. Leithart

Hume thought his arguments against miracles applied to prophecy as well.  Miracles cannot serve as proof of the truth of Christianity because miracles violate natural law and because our knowledge of them rests on unreliable testimony rather than direct observation.  So too prophecy: . . . . Continue Reading »

Pharisees of course are mentioned throughout Matthew’s gospel.  After Jesus’ scathing denunciation at the temple (Matthew 23), they disappear for most of the rest of the gospel.  They appear one last time, along with the chief priests, asking for a seal on Jesus’ tomb . . . . Continue Reading »

Joseph places Jesus’ body in a “new tomb.” New wine cannot be contained in old wineskins.  The new wine of the new covenant, the wine that Jesus will drink new in the Father’s kingdom, cannot be contained in old wineskins.  So too, a new kind of body requires a new . . . . Continue Reading »

My colleague Jonathan McIntosh writes the following in response to my post quoting Aristotle’s statement about wonder as the beginning of philosophy: “on your quote from Aristotle on wonder, I like to juxtapose this with another passage from a little later in the  Metaphysics in . . . . Continue Reading »

Three women are mentioned in Matthew 27:56: Mary Magdalene, another Mary, identified as “the mother of Jakobos and Joses,” and the unnamed mother of James and John.  Who is the second Mary? Matthew 13:55 is the only other reference to these names, Jakobos and Joses, and their . . . . Continue Reading »

The women who come from Galilee minister to Jesus along the way (27:55).  They take the place of angels, who minister to Jesus after the devil has tempted Him (4:11).  They are daughters of Peter’s mother-in-law, who rises and ministers to Jesus and the disciples (8:15). They are . . . . Continue Reading »

The women of Matthew 27 are the only ones in Matthew’s gospel to behold ( theoreo ) anything (27:55 and 28:1 are the only uses of the verb). Women theorists.  What will Matthew think of next? . . . . Continue Reading »

Magdalene has plausibly been linked with Migdal-el (Joshua 19:38), one of the fortified cities in the tribal area of Naphtali.  Migdal-el means “Fortress” of God.  Mary from Magdala is a tower of God. What does that mean?  Perhaps many things, but it puts one in mind of . . . . Continue Reading »

Where’d the Galilean women of Matthew 27:55 come from?  The only other references to a group of women, the only uses of the plural of gune occur in Matthew 14:21 and 15:38.  They are the women included among the 5000 and 4000 who are fed in the “desolate place” near the . . . . Continue Reading »

A group of women from Galilee suddenly appears in Matthew 27:55.  They are “beholding from a distance” ( makrothen ), having “followed” Jesus ( eklouthesan ). This is precisely the description given of Peter in 26:58: When Jesus is arrested, he too “follows Him at . . . . Continue Reading »