Roofless factory

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:02 am By Peter Leithart

The “roofless factory” of some contemporary capitalist theory and practice reverses one of the basic drives of modern economic life. Bringing all workers into a single location under a single roof was one of the main features of the early modern factory system, and provided not only the economic benefit of concentrated activity and production, but the disciplinary benefit of increased oversight and ease of management. Writing in 1913, V. Dauphin suggested that “The order and inspection that must be... Read more

Rome and Modern Discipline

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:02 am By Peter Leithart

Rome was a model society for Europeans throughout the early modern period. But the Rome that served as a model differed from era to era and from writer to writer. Foucault writes: “the Roman model, at the Enlightenment, played a dual role; in its republican aspect, it was the very embodiment of liberty; in its military aspect, it was the ideal schema of discipline. The Rome of the eighteenth century and of the Revolution was the Rome of the Senate,... Read more

Strange doings in John 21

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Some oddities of the narrative of John 21. Peter, we’re told, has stripped, apparently to make it easier to do his fishing. When he hears that Jesus is on the shore, he puts ON his outer robe and throws himself into the sea. As a practical matter, this doesn’t make much sense; he’d be able to swim better without the outer robe. As a symbolic act, it makes a lot of sense at a number of levels: Peter is about... Read more

Decentered Self of Protestantism

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:52 pm By Peter Leithart

Guy Waters thinks that I’m abandoning the Reformation by questioning an ontology rooted in the notion of “substance.” I say, On the contrary. In an article on the Reformation doctrine of justification, Berndt Hamm writes: “Behind this epoch-making change in the understanding of justification and salvation, as Wilfried Joest has shown, lies a new view of the person . . . . (more…) Read more

Genealogical numerology

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

Austen Farrer suggests this numerological interpretation of Matthew 1: Matthew arranges the genealogy in “three pairs of sevens, six ‘weeks’ grouped in twos.” Thus, “we have only six, as it were the working ‘days’ of a week of weeks. In six days God made heaven and earth, including (in the sixth) man after his own image; sabbath followed. In six weeks of generations God has made a new creation from the call of Abraham to Jesus his better image. The... Read more

Before Abraham Was

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:47 pm By Peter Leithart

Matthew introduces his genealogy with a phrase drawn from Gen 2:4 and 5:1: the “book of the genesis.” It looks as if Jesus is the end point of the genealogy, as if it begins with Abraham and ends with Joseph/Jesus. That’s clearly true. But when we examine the allusion to Gen 2:4 and 5:1 another aspect comes into focus. In Gen, the “generations” statement introduce those who are generated. The book of heaven and earth describes the “offspring” of heaven... Read more

These Ten Times

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:51 pm By Peter Leithart

In Num 14:22, Yahweh charges that Israel has tested Him “these ten times.” Ronald Allen offers this list of 10 rebellions in his Expositor’s Bible Commentary: 1. Israel’s fear that Pharaoh would destroy them, Ex 14:10-12 2. Marah, Ex 15:22-24 3. Hunger in the wilderness, Ex 16:1-3 4. Disobedience to Moses concerning saving manna overnight, Ex 16:19-20 5. Disobedience to Moses concerning gathering manna on Sabbath, Ex 16:27-30 6. Rephidim, Ex 17:1-4 . . . . (more…) Read more

Suffer Little Children

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:56 pm By Peter Leithart

Jesus obviously welcomes children to Himself, but I wonder if there’s isn’t something more specific going on in the gospel stories about Jesus and children. Something like this: Jesus is the new Moses who calls Israel to follow Him to the promised land. Many in Israel refuse, and Jesus condemns “this generation,” which will fall in the wilderness. The little children of Israel are the second generation from Egypt, who will, unlike their parents, inherit the kingdom. Read more

Guy on Me

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:43 pm By Peter Leithart

Guy Waters devotes a chapter to my views on sacramental theology in his recent book. While much of it is a reasonably accurate summary of my various writings on this subject, he devotes a few pages to critique. Here are a few responses to that critique. 1) Waters rightly notes that my sacramental theology involves a conscious effort to think through sacramental theology in terms of a “Trinitarian personalism.” In his discussion of this background, he claims that Ralph Smith... Read more

Dual creation

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:53 pm By Peter Leithart

Assuming Gen 1:1 describes an act of creation and is not a title: It’s striking that the Gen account begins with the creation of two realms rather than a single entity or realm. Hesiod says that there was one reality, chaos; Anaximander says “together were all things”; Thales claimed that water was the beginning. But not Gen: Duality and difference does not arise from a prior unity. Difference is primordial in creation, as in God. Read more