Peter J. Leithart

Yahweh curses Israel for breaking covenant. More specifically, Israel will become a sign and wonder to the nations “because you did not serve Yahweh your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things” (Deuteronomy 28:47). What satisfies God is not just obedience, but . . . . Continue Reading »

In her history of England, written at 15, Austen declares her favor toward the Stuart dynasty. She writes comically, but beneath the fun she is in earnest. Irene Collins notes that her mother, Cassandra Leigh “liked to remember that her ancestor Thomas Leigh had received a baronetcy for . . . . Continue Reading »

Austen was a life-long Anglican, born to a C of E clergyman, with many C of E ministers in her extended family and ancestry and circle of acquaintances. Irene Collins notes, “Her maternal grandfather and her great uncle had been clergymen; so were her godfather, one of her uncles, two of her . . . . Continue Reading »

Vicesimus Knox (1752 - 1821) - English minister, essayist, and campaigner for the end of war - was educated at St. John’s Oxford, where George Austen (1731-1805), Jane’s father, was a student and tutor in classics, and Knox later became Headmaster of Tonbridge School, which George . . . . Continue Reading »

INTRODUCTION Jesus’ ministry is linked to John’s. When John is arrested, Jesus moves to Galilee and settles in Capernaum (4:12-13), and later John’s death leads to another withdrawal (14:13). Jesus removes Himself from harm’s way so that the kingdom of God can get its first . . . . Continue Reading »

According to American literary critic Harry Levin, the modern novel is born from a war against artifice. The problem is, How is a novelist to create an appearance of life-like realism? The answer, from Cervantes on, is to reject “that air of bookishness in which any book is inevitably . . . . Continue Reading »

A reader, John Halton, writes in response to my comments on Tintin in the Congo : “I think the reason why Tintin in the Congo has ‘suddenly become controversial’ is fairly simple: a new paperback edition of the book has just been released in the UK. “As long as I can . . . . Continue Reading »

Published in 1931, Tintin in the Congo has suddenly become controversial. The British Commission for Racial Equality urges that this volume of “racist claptrap” be removed from bookshops everywhere; “It beggars belief in this day and age that any shop would think it acceptable to . . . . Continue Reading »

Matthew 4:2: After Jesus had fasted forty days and forty night, He afterward became hungry. Jesus goes into the wilderness as the Last Adam and as the true Israelite. And like Adam and Israel, He is tested regarding food. He finds Himself surrounded by the stones of the desert, and He is tempted to . . . . Continue Reading »

Much of the following depends on Austin Farrer’s discussion in The Triple Victory . Why was Jesus tempted in the particular ways He was tempted? The best answer to that question is typological. Jesus is the true Israel, and He is faced with the same series of temptations that Israel faced . . . . Continue Reading »