Thinking Like An Anthropologist

Last updated on: August 12, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

The best anthropologists are specialists in difference. They operate on the assumption of distance between the anthropologist and the object of study. The great anthropological sin is to incorporate the different into a variation of the same, to impose the anthropologist’s social, philosophical, religious, or political categories on a culture where they do not obtain. In studying the ancient texts that are their chief sources, theologians are tempted to re-conceive what they discover into familiar categories. What doesn’t fit is... Read more

Divine Simplicity in a Contested World

Last updated on: August 12, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Near the beginning of his Divine Simplicity (xviii-xix), Paul Hinlickey briefly explains the differences between his “weak” account of simplicity and the “strong” accounts of Thomas and others. In many classic treatments, simplicity is “a rationally evident ontological implication that comes about by analysis of the ground of a stable and manifest cosmos.” Taking his cues from Deleuze, Hinlickey wants to work out simplicity on the “plan of immanence,” which, theologically, means the plane of the history of Israel and... Read more

The Injustice of Nonjudgmentalism

Last updated on: August 12, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Rusty Reno (Resurrecting the Idea of a Christian Society) summarizes the findings of Charles Murray’s 2013 Coming Apart. Murray compares two statistical cohorts – an upper class one that he labels Belmont and a working class cohort called Fishtown. He finds a growing gap not only in income but in lifestyle, especially with regard to marriage. Belmont residents may talk nostalgically about the 60s, but Fishtown actually lives the revolution, and is surrounded by the debris of broken marriages and... Read more

Freedom Deregulated

Last updated on: August 12, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

In his Resurrecting the Idea of a Christian Society, Rusty Reno finds a “false view of freedom as unimpeded choice and self-definition” at the root of many of our political, economic, and social pathologies. In the name of freedom, we have “deregulated” culture, a policy shift with far wider and deeper consequences than market deregulation – far wider and deeper economic consequences. Our aspiration to absolute freedom “has benefitted the strong and hurt the weak” and so it’s in the... Read more

Who Shall Ascend?

Last updated on: August 11, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

L. Michael Morales’s 2015 Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord? is a “biblical theology of the book of Leviticus,” but Morales doesn’t turn his full attention to Leviticus until he is one-third of the way through the book. That’s as it should be. Building on his earlier The Tabernacle Pre-Figured, Morales demonstrates that readers of Leviticus need to have Genesis and Exodus well under their belts before they begin. The cult doesn’t make sense without the cosmology; rites... Read more

Fellowship of Grievance

Last updated on: August 11, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Douglas Wilson frequently uses the powerful phrase “fellowship of the grievance” to describe communities formed by disgruntled people. Resentment is a powerful force for joining people together – at least for a time, until they discover they also have grievances with one another. Complaint is one of the most effective forms of discourse. Grievance is a magnet. As Doug points out, aggrieved people can spot one another with uncanny accuracy. But not all communions of the disgruntled are bound by... Read more

Fellowship of Grievance

Last updated on: August 11, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Obsessed with Sex?

Last updated on: August 10, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Christians are often accused of being obsessed with sexual sin. Why can’t two people, of whatever sex, do whatever they please in the enclosure of their own room? Who is hurt if a guy wants to get off looking at tantalizing pictures and videos on his computer? What’s the big deal if college students hook up, unhook, and then hook up again with someone? Our jitteriness about sex exposes our prudery and hostility to life. It shows that Christians are... Read more

Without Defect

Last updated on: August 10, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

In answer to the question, Who may sojourn in Yahweh’s tent, or dwell on His holy mountain? Psalm 15 answers: A man without defect. The word translated in the NASB as “with integrity” is the Levitical term tamim, “without defect,” and usually describes sacrificial animals (e.g., Leviticus 1:3, 10). The man without defect goes into God’s presence like an animal without physical blemish. As the Psalm continues, it fills out the portrait of a man without defect. His walk, works,... Read more

Last Trump?

Last updated on: August 10, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Andrew Sullivan and others have concluded that the Donald’s candidacy is a blast from the last trump, announcing the end of democracy. These underestimates the federal government’s blessed capacity for gridlock, and Trump’s chameleon capacity for compromise, change, and moderation. The real worry is less that, if elected, Trump will make good on his promises; he won’t. The worry lies elsewhere. Trump’s campaign has been a masterpiece of scapegoating, blaming our economic stagnation on China and Mexico and our decline... Read more

What does "Satan" mean in Hebrew?