RO, Augustine, and Borders

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

Hans Boersma offered an interesting critique of the notion of “borders” in Radical Orthodoxy and some of its fellow travelers, especially concerning their relationship to Augustine’s conception of the city of God. The two terms of his analysis were “ontology of peace” and “oppositional logic,” and he argued that these stand in some tension with one another in RO. He agreed with RO writers that both themes are found in Augustine, but argued that they work differently in Augustine than... Read more

Crossan on Resurrection

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:51 pm By Peter Leithart

Responding to NT Wright’s response to the critics of his resurrection book, John Dominic Crossan registered three agreements and three points in what he called an amicus curiae brief. The agreements: 1) “Resurrection” means the general bodily resurrection. To say Jesus is raised is to say that the general bodily resurrection has begun. Resurrection is about the eschaton breaking in. The eschaton is God’s “spring cleaning” of the world, and thus must necessarily have to do with bodies. Martyrs are... Read more

Essentially Literal Translation

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:36 pm By Peter Leithart

Jack Collins of Covenant Seminary gave a fine paper on translation theory at ETS. He argued for “essentially literal” translation, or what he also called “transparent translation.” The goal of such translation is to render the original text in the receptor language as much as possible, and to make the receptor text as transparent to the syntax, imagery, word usage, ambiguities, etc as possible. He put it very nicely by saying that translation is an effort to allow a reader... Read more

Calvin on Faith and Obedience

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:48 pm By Peter Leithart

Did Calvin teach that faith is obedience? Sam Waldron of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary says Yes and No to that. On the one hand, Waldron argued in an ETS paper, Calvin does teach that faith is obedience, not only inseparable from obedience but actually IS obedience. He quoted from Calvin’s comments on Romans 1:5 to support the point: “Faith is properly that by which we obey the gospel.” On the other hand, Waldron argued that it was not AS obedience... Read more

Poythress on Hermeneutics and translation

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

Vern Poythress gave an excellent paper at ETS on truth and fullness of meaning. It was typical Poythress ?Earguing against any reductive account of meaning and language, insisting that Scripture speaks in all sorts of ways (propositions, metaphors, allusions, etc), well-informed about contemporary trends in linguistics and philosophy. Here are some highlights: 1) He spent considerable time on the reductive character of structural linguistics. Saussure’s Course in General Linguistics deliberately eliminates context from its consideration of language as a system;... Read more

Edwards: Christology and Trinity

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:36 pm By Peter Leithart

There were two good presentations on Edwards theology at ETS this morning. The first, by Robert Caldwell of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, focused on the role of the Spirit in Edwards’s Christology. Caldwell’s main point was that the Spirit is the mediator of the union of the divine and human natures in Christ. In this respect, Edwards stands out of the mainstream of Reformed Orthodoxy. Where the Orthodox would emphasize the differences between the hypostatic union and the union... Read more

One Man for the People

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:05 am By Peter Leithart

The ever-inventive Jim Jordan points out this cool sequence at the center of the prophecy of Isaiah: 1) The Assyrians threaten Jerusalem, but the Lord delivers the city because of the intercession of King Hezekiah. 2) Then Hezekiah gets sick, beginning to die as king for the people. But he pleads with the Lord and is delivered. 3) Immediately, Isaiah begins the servant songs, where the suffering servant dies on behalf of the people. In short: By the terms of... Read more

Tarantino

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

New York Press critic Armond White has offered the most incisive summary of Tarantino’s work and influence: “QT made sadism hip and sent it ‘round the world.” In another piece on Tarantino, White points (less convincingly, but still interestingly) to “QT’s” play with race: “Tarantino is the first white filmmaker to forge a career based on disreputable, underclass taste ?Ethe movie culture that black urban youth were raised on and affectionately viewed as their own. Reservoir Dogs , Pulp Fiction... Read more

Buttiglione and Europe

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:48 pm By Peter Leithart

The European Parliament’s opposition to the nomination of philosopher Rocco Buttiglione for the position of justice minister on the European Commission is noteworthy for a number of reasons. As Christopher Caldwell points out in the Novemeber 15 issue of The Weekly Standard , this is the first time that the European Parliament has exercised a right to “advise and consent” regarding nominations to the Commission. When they pressured Commission president Jose Manuel Dorao Barroso, Buttiglione withdrew his name from nomination.... Read more

Eucharistic Meditation, November 14

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:39 pm By Peter Leithart

Revelation 19:7 The beginning of Solomon?s sin was intermarriage, marriage to unbelieving, pagan, idolatrous wives and concubines. As I noted in the sermon, there are consistent warnings about this throughout the Scriptures, from Genesis to Deuteronomy to Kings to Ezra-Nehemiah to Corinthians. Everywhere Scripture warns that we must not cleave to unbelievers in marriage. Practically, this commandment is crucial for any long-term faithfulness in the church. Without it, the church?s faithfulness quickly dilutes over generations. But intermarriage points to a... Read more