Culture of Canaan

Last updated on: July 28, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Leviticus 18 consists largely of rules on sex-permitted degrees of consanguinity, prohibited sex acts like homosexual sodomy and bestiality and adultery. The chapter begins, though, with a more general warning against conforming to Egyptian and Canaanite ways of life. Verse 3 puts this in a series of parallel clauses (the translation follows the Hebrew word order): a. According to the ma’aseh of the land of Egypt where you dwelt in her, do (‘asah) not; b. according to the ma’aseh of... Read more

Double Mission

Last updated on: July 27, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert (What Is the Mission of the Church?) are concerned about the inflation of missionality in Evangelicalism. They are in favor of churches that engage in mercy ministry and advocate for justice but they insist that these dimensions of the church’s work are not at the center of the church’s mission. That mission is the work of making disciples by preaching and teaching those who are gathered into churches (cf. 62). The book is a helpful... Read more

Hands

Last updated on: July 26, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Toward the end of his book on hands, British psychoanalyst Darian Leader summarizes one of the main themes of the work: “Keeping our hands busy has always been a central human activity” (107). That busyness can take the form of a touch that draws us close, the grasping fist of the infant who doesn’t intend to attack but to incorporate, the saving hand that draws the dangling heroine to safety, the hand that caresses. Ancient rhetoricians knew that words must... Read more

A Brief Theology of Genealogy

Last updated on: July 26, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Genealogies may function “tribally,” that is, to secure the present of the tribe in the past, to hold the present hostage to the past, and to ensure that there is no variation. Change is the enemy; genealogies record change, but record change in a way that displays a continuous passage from past to present. Someone in the present has status—as king, priest, citizen—because of his genealogical connection with the founder, through a trail of descent, fathers begetting and sons begotten.... Read more

Saul’s Death in Chronicles

Last updated on: July 25, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

After nine long chapters of names, genealogies, and snippets of narrative, the Chronicler plunges the reader into a scene of frantic action: Saul’s battle with the Philistines on Mount Gilboa (1 Chronicles 10; cf. 1 Samuel 31). The story of Israel’s monarchy starts out as a sad story of the death of kings. Why start here? Summarizing the work of Rudolph Mosis, Saul Zalewski argues that Saul foreshadows the various kings who do evil in the eyes of Yahweh. Like... Read more

Blog News

Last updated on: July 22, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

I‘ll return to blogging next week, with changes. Since I started blogging more than a decade ago, I’ve used my blog as a public notebook to record quotations I want to remember, summarize articles I’ve come across in research, explore a problem or question, mainly in biblical studies or theology. My blog posts don’t necessarily express settled views; writing a blog post doesn’t indicate (permanent) endorsement. The writing has been nondescript at best, flabby at worst, the content desultory. It’s... Read more

Gone Fishin’

Last updated on: July 1, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Taking a summer break. I will return to blogging in the latter part of July. Read more

Clarity in Trinitarian Debate

Last updated on: June 30, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Kevin Giles’s The Eternal Generation of the Son targets Evangelical theologians who deny the Son’s eternal generation. He also challenges Evangelical theologians who teach that the Son is “functionally” but not ontologically subordinate to the Father, or subordinate in “role” though not in being, or eternally under the authority of the Father. I agree with Giles that the doctrine of eternal generation is true, biblically rooted and theologically fruitful, not to mention an axiom of the Christian tradition for a... Read more

Liberalism’s Paradox

Last updated on: June 30, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Domenico Losurdo’s “counter-history” of Liberalism is a long riff on a central paradox: Many of the founding fathers of modern liberal thought were indifferent to, or even advocates of, slavery. John Calhoun is a prime example: “This eminent statesman, vice president of the United States in the mid-nineteenth century, burst into an impassioned ode to individual liberty, which, appealing to Locke, he vigorously defended against any abuse of power and any unwarranted interference by the state. . . . Along... Read more

Bread for the World

Last updated on: June 30, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

In the Holy Place of the tabernacle, there was a table toward the north, spread with twelve loaves of “showbread” or “bread of the presence.” To the south was a golden lampstand, seven lamps making a burning tree. The Holy Place provided a glimpse of Israel’s place and mission in the world. Twelve loaves = Israel. Seven lamps = the unsleeping eyes of the Spirit watching over Israel. Lamp and loaves are a snapshot of election, of the Creator’s special... Read more

Who interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a statue of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and clay?