Peter J. Leithart

The church’s response to Copernicanism is often cited as a textbook example of the tyranny of faith over investigation and reason. Dogmatically committed to geocentrism, the church wanted to shut the door on alternative explanations. The truth, Owen Barfield argues, is very nearly the . . . . Continue Reading »

We think our popular culture is as crass as it comes, but in 18th century London, in Cripplegate, there was a fart club, where, as Kenneth Baker says, “the members met once a month to give of their best.” The much-maligned Victorian Age was the great cleansing of British culture, which . . . . Continue Reading »

INTRODUCTION John begins his first epistle where he begins his gospel, announcing the incarnation of the Word who was from the beginning. Through this incarnation, John and his readers have fellowship with the Father and Son. THE TEXT “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, . . . . Continue Reading »

The original formless-and-void creation was dark. God created light, and saw it was good. We might think that the creation of light itself would be sufficient to divide light and darkness, but that’s not the way Genesis tells the story. It takes a distinct act to separate light and darkness. . . . . Continue Reading »

Words are not hard BBs of meaning. Nor are words like the atoms of ancient atomic theory - impermeable bits of matter. Words are like atoms as understood in modern physics, taking on new properties when they are in the vicinity of other words. Or, if you like, words are like your fickle friends who . . . . Continue Reading »

1 John 1:6-7: If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. I had suggested that John . . . . Continue Reading »

Pope Benedict’s remarks on Islam have sparked violent protests, and many have noted the irony: Muslims violently protests the Pope’s claim that they practice a violent religion. But the Pope’s main point in the address was about the detachment of God’s word from human . . . . Continue Reading »

I’m wearing a green stole around my neck, and there’s a green tablecloth on the table. Why is that? For starters, these are part of the glorification of worship. Every place of worship in Scripture – the tabernacle, the temple, the heavenly court in Revelation – is adorned, . . . . Continue Reading »

Featherstone: “One important site where the various flows of people, goods, technology, information and images cross and intermingle is the world city. World cities are the sites in which we find the juxtaposition of the rich and the poor, the new middle-class professionals and the homeless, . . . . Continue Reading »

In certain respects, Continental philosophy has a strong “Protestant” thrust: As Critchley describes it, the philosophical vocation is to produce crisis in a world where the crisis is that there is no recognition of crisis. Through critique of everyday praxis, the philosopher aims to . . . . Continue Reading »