Place of theology

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:04 am By Peter Leithart

Roch Kereszty asks why, if “Scriptural formulas are the most accurate and the best suited for expressing christological doctrine,” we need “theological speculation.” He answers that theology exists to clarify and explain the Bible: “Systematic theologians . . . will follow the direction given in the New Testament itself (that used Hellenistic terms to express theperson and work of Jesus, in a Hellenistic culture), and will find in every age and culture new auxiliary languages ‘in order to make clear... Read more

Antisacramental devilry

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:46 pm By Peter Leithart

Luther assaulted the enthusiasts of the Reformation era with vigor: “enthusiasm lurks in Adam and his children from the beginning up to the end of the world, as a poison placed in them by teh ancient serpent, and it is the source, power and might of all heresy . . . . Thus we must firly maintain that God desires to do nothing with us men except through his outward word and sacrament. But everything which boasts that it is... Read more

Letter, Spirit, and Progress

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:46 pm By Peter Leithart

Interpreting the Psalmist’s cry for understanding, Luther discusses the need for understanding to grow over time: “The Psalmist prays for an understanding against the mere letter,for the Spirit is understanding. For as the years have passed, so has the relationship grown closer between letter and the Spirit. For what was a sufficient understanding in times past, has now become the letter to us. Thus at the present time, as we have said, the letter itself is more subtle in nature... Read more

France and England in Emma

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:42 pm By Peter Leithart

In Emma, as U. C. Knoepflmacher has pointed out, the writing of letters is an index of character. Writing letters is itself less manly and direct that face-to-face speech, and the kinds of letters one writes reveal the person. Frank is said to write long, “pretty” letters; Robert Martin writes a short, sensible, plain, but strong and unaffected letter to Harriet, and that letter reveals who he is; Knightly is more on the Robert Martin side of things, preferring manly... Read more

Jane Austen, Detective

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:45 pm By Peter Leithart

PD James devotes a considerable amount of space to Austen in her autobiography, including biographical details about Austen and an appendix where she analyzes Emma as a “detective story.” She notes that detective stories don’t need to have murder, but only mystery: “facts which are hidden from the reader but which he or she should be able to discover by logical deduction from clues inserted in the novel with deceptive cunning but essential fairness. It is about evaluating evidence, whether... Read more

Publication of Emma

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:03 am By Peter Leithart

As Claire Tomalin points out, Austen had two bursts of creativity during her lifetime. The first came in her early twenties, when she wrote the early versions of Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice within about a three year period from 1795-1798. None of these was published until 1811, when Sense and Sensibility came out from Egerton. Over the next several years, Austen not only was able to get Pride and Prejudice published, but also began to... Read more

Five Points of NT Wright

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:41 pm By Peter Leithart

The volume edited by McCormack includes a final chapter by NT Wright. Like a good Calvinist, Wright summarizes his views on Paul and justification under five points. He begins where he says Paul begins, with the gospel. For Paul, Wright argues, the gospel is not a message of individual salvation, not a how-to about how to be saved. The gospel implies these things, but that’s not the content of the gospel. Instead, it’s “the proclamation that the crucified Jesus of... Read more

Luther on baptism and justification

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:10 am By Peter Leithart

In an article in Bruce McCormack, ed., Justification in Perspective , Carl Trueman makes some helpful comments about the assumptions and consequences of Luther’s views on baptism and justification. “At the heart of Luther’s mature understanding of baptism,” he writes, “as with his mature understanding of justification, is a notion of humanity that sees human beings primarily in terms of relation and status. This is often summed up in studies of Luther’s thought with reference to his totus homo ,... Read more

Easter Sermon

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:35 pm By Peter Leithart

The following is largely inspired by Jon D. Levenson’s Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel . In his novel, The Death of Ivan Illych, Leo Tolstoy tells the story of the life and death of his title character. Ivan Illych is a government lawyer who has devoted his life to advancing his career. He lives, he thinks, just as he should, doing everything that he is supposed to do, living life correctly. That doesn’t mean he’s happy. He’s not. He... Read more

Eucharistic meditation, Easter Sunday

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:38 pm By Peter Leithart

John 21:15: So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him, Yes, Lord; You know that I love You. He said to him, Tend my lambs. Jesus’ breakfast on the beach is a liturgy. At this meal, Jesus renews fellowship with Peter, and re-incorporates him into the company of apostles. Though Peter was estranged from Jesus because of his sin, Jesus forgives him... Read more