Peter J. Leithart

The exchange of prisoners in Matthew 27 is a Passover scene.  One man goes to his death, the other goes free.  Both are “sons of the Father,” so we can say that one son goes to death and the other goes free. In the original Passover, of course, Israel’s son is delivered, . . . . Continue Reading »

In a 2008 article in the Catholic Biblical Quarterly , Catherine Sider Hamilton appeals to the rabbinic legend of Zechariah’s unappeased blood, and from OT texts about the land polluted by blood, to the conclusion that the “traditional” interpretation connecting the blood of Jesus . . . . Continue Reading »

Eagleton again, explaining the significance of the biblical idea of creation: “Because there is no necessity about the cosmos, we cannot deduce the laws which govern it from a priori principles, but need instead to look at how it actually works.  This is the task of science.  There . . . . Continue Reading »

Terry Eagleton suggests in his Terry Lectures ( Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate (The Terry Lectures Series) ) that existentialism “was for the most part an ontologically imposing way of saying that one was nineteen, far from home, feeling rather blue, and like a . . . . Continue Reading »

The conflict in the trial of Jesus is a conflict over the crowd.  For a long time, Jesus has controlled the crowd, but in the trial the Jews take over the crowd.  We might say that the conflict is a conflict of rival lovers: Who will become head of the bride, Israel? It fits, then, that . . . . Continue Reading »

“O Sacred Head Now Wounded” is only a portion of a much longer poem by Bernard of Clairvaux, a blason on the crucified Jesus.  The Baroque composer Dieterich Buxtehude set the whole poem to music in Membra Jesu Nostri , and there’s a wonderful performance by the Schola . . . . Continue Reading »

Before Jesus goes to the cross, His last words answer Pilate’s question “Are you king of the Jews?”  Jesus says, ” You say,” which means “Yes” with the nuance of “My kingship is being declared by the Roman governor.” . . . . Continue Reading »

Every commentator on Matthew notes the connection between Pilate’s handwashing and the ritual of Deuteronomy 21.  Elders of a city where there is an unsolved crime - unappeased innocent blood - break the neck of a “virgin” heifer (never yoked) in a valley with living water, . . . . Continue Reading »

A Girardian take on the dream of Pilate’s wife in Matthew 27:19. As noted in an earlier post, 27:17-21 is a chiasm, with the dream at the center.  Verse 18 corresponds with verse 20, since both are about the chief priests and elders.  But there is also a deeper link: verse 18 says . . . . Continue Reading »

James Scott ( Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (The Institution for Social and Policy St) ) suggests that “legibility” is a central problem of politics.  ”The premodern state,” he writes, “was, in many crucial . . . . Continue Reading »