Ancients on the Ancients

by Peter J. Leithart

What did Greeks and Romans know about the Ancient Near East? Not much. Continue Reading »

22 Jan 2015

Spell for Menacing Wildcat

by Peter J. Leithart

How to get rid of a howling cat. Continue Reading »

2 Dec 2014

Sacrifice at Ugarit

by Peter J. Leithart

Hebrew and Ugaritic sacrificial terms were quite similar. Continue Reading »

24 Jul 2014

First Brick

by Peter J. Leithart

Ancient temple-builders took great care over the first brick. Continue Reading »

24 Jul 2014

Tabernacled Among Us

by Peter J. Leithart

Ancient temples were not only houses for gods, but bodies. Continue Reading »

9 Jul 2014

Pious Imprecations

by Peter J. Leithart

Even CS Lewis thought the imprecatory Psalms barbaric. But they were unique to Israel’s hymnody, and for good reason. Continue Reading »

9 Jun 2014

Ancient Influence

by Peter J. Leithart

Could the biblical account of creation have influenced Babylonian accounts? Continue Reading »

7 Jun 2014

De-Assyrianization

by Peter J. Leithart

Modern theologians try to scrape off the “Assyrianism” of the Bible as much as the “Hellenism.” Continue Reading »

5 Jun 2014

The Bible in the Ancient East

by Peter J. Leithart

How to explain parallels between Israel’s religion and that of the Ancient Near East. Continue Reading »

4 Jun 2014

Feeding the God

by Peter J. Leithart

Theories of sacrifice emphasize killing or festivity. Ancient Mesopotamian sacrifice emphasizes neither. Continue Reading »

29 May 2014