Peter J. Leithart

Amazon says they’ve got my Jane Austen biography in stock.  Click the icon to the right and you’ll get there. New St Andrews College philosopher Mitch Stokes has a biography of Isaac Newton (Christian Encounters Series) in the same series from Nelson, and it’s in stock at . . . . Continue Reading »

In his excellent Theopolitical Imagination , William Cavanaugh points out that during the Reformation Catholic princes remained Catholic in those areas where the power of the Papacy had already been restricted.  Because the princes could have their way, they didn’t need to change . . . . Continue Reading »

Paul instructs the Corinthians to defer to weaker brothers, avoiding, for example, meat sacrificed to idols out of concern for a weaker brother’s conscience. But what happens when we apply a universality principle: What if everybody did?  Wouldn’t that mean that the weak end up . . . . Continue Reading »

The woman’s description of her lover in Song of Songs 5:6-10 draws on terminology used to describe the temple - there’s myrrh, sockets, inlays, cedars of Lebanon. More, the sequence of the description is not only head-to-foot, but also roughly follows the pattern of the temple. Head of . . . . Continue Reading »

The lover’s eyes are doves, just like his beloved’s (Song of Songs 5:12).  John’s description of Jesus in Revelation 1 draws on the model of the Song, with variations.  In John’s blason of Jesus, though, the eyes of Jesus are like flames of fire not doves. Though . . . . Continue Reading »

LaCocque is irritating.  He finds striking parallels between the Song and other biblical texts, but consistently says that the Song is undermining, subverting, reversing the other texts.  Very few of these reversals begin to resemble actual reversals. Lamentations 4:1-8, for example, . . . . Continue Reading »

Jenson is right: One can hardly read Song of Songs 5:2 without thinking of Revelation 3:20 (or, at least, of cheesy paintings inspired by Revelation 3:20).  What does Jesus want?  In Revelation, Jesus stands at the door seeking entry, calling to those inside to open He can enter to enjoy . . . . Continue Reading »

Michael Fox writes that “The equality of the lovers and the equality of their love, rather than the Song’s earthly sensuality, are what makes their union an inappropriate analogy for the bond between God and Israel.” That would be persuasive, but for the massive reality of the . . . . Continue Reading »

In his Romance, She Wrote: A Hermeneutical Essay on Song of Songs , Andre LaCocque suggests that the reference to the “mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense” in Song of Songs 4:6 are another references to the “feminine figure, especially as the maiden’s breasts have . . . . Continue Reading »

Israel’s sins are like scarlet, but they shall be like wool, Isaiah says.  Scarlet?  What’s wrong with scarlet?  Why not “black”? Though scarlet is a color in the tabernacle curtains (the word is used 25+ times in Exodus), Isaiah seems to be referring to the . . . . Continue Reading »