Theology, Civic or Natural

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

Modern theology has often been obsessively concerned to justify itself to cultured despisers, and this self-justification has often taken the form of “prolegomenon,” the technical name for an introduction to a theological treatise. To the extent that prolegomena represent efforts to describe the work of theology and its place in the church, there is a venerable pedigree. Aquinas went to considerable lengths to describe where “sacred doctrine” comes from, and to sketch its relationship to other areas of study. In... Read more

Hope of the Hopeless

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

We do what we do because we hope to accomplish something by our actions. All our actions are directed at the future. We want things to be different than they are now, and we plan and act in hope that we can make things come out differently than they otherwise would. Students work hard in school in the hope that it will benefit them in the future – help them get into the college they want, help them get the... Read more

Finding Fixed Points in Revelation

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

Revelation is a confusing book for many readers, apparently endlessly, perhaps even drearily repetitive. The pyrotechnics and special effects might fascinate for a bit, but after a while it all blurs and blends and leaves us wandering in the bewilderness (David Sterritt’s wonderful term). Can we find fixed points, coordinates that help us navigate the text? Yes. This is an apocalypse, an unveiling of Jesus, and Jesus provides the fixed moments. The opening chapters (1-3) are fairly easy to grasp:... Read more

Cinematic Density

Last updated on: February 9, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Analyses of two scenes from The Thin Red Line in Steven Rybin’s Terrence Malick and the Thought of Film, Michel Chion’s The Thin Red Line, and Lloyd Michaels’s Terrence Malick illustrate the almost unfathomable density of Malick’s films. In the first scene, Dale, one of the soldiers of C Company, is mocking one of the Japanese soldiers captured during the daring attack on a Japanese bunker. Dale has been pulling gold teeth out of dead Japanese soldiers, and he taunts... Read more

Seven Angels

Last updated on: February 9, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Revelation 14 is filled with “another angel” characters. It’s odd, because “another angel” appears before there’s an angel to be anothered to. How can there be another angel when they ain’t been an angel in the first place? The phrase allos aggelos is sued six time (14:6, 8, 9, 15, 17, 18). The sixth angel is mentioned again in verse 19, though he is not called “another” angel. This is in addition, apparently, to the seven angels who appear in... Read more

Why Observe Lent?

Last updated on: February 9, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

To observe Lent rightly, we have to be persuaded that we already stand in God’s favor. Ash Wednesday reminds us to number our days. It helps us gain a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12). We keep Easter to manifest and deepen our prior share in resurrection. We observe Lent to manifest and deepen our share in the cross. As a focused pursuit of the fruits of holiness, Lent is rooted in union with Christ, who is our sanctification. Lent is... Read more

Nevin Lectures, 2016

Last updated on: February 8, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

This Friday and Saturday, the Theopolis Institute will host the third annual Nevin Lecture series. The Nevin Lectures are an exercise in what Paul Murray calls “receptive ecumenism.” Each year, Theopolis invites a theologian, pastor, or thinker from outside our Protestant Reformed tradition to lecture about what divides us. We gather to worship together, to listen carefully to one another, and to debate, discuss, disagree in at atmosphere of brotherly charity. In 2014, we hosted Timothy George, Dean of Beeson... Read more

Communicative Piety

Last updated on: February 8, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

At the center of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches about three duties of Jewish piety – alms, prayer, and fasting. Regarding the last, He says, “when you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites, for they render their faces unrecognizable in order to be seen fasting by men. . . . But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face, so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but... Read more

Humean Cinema

Last updated on: February 8, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Mark Cousins once clipped a weed from the grave of David Hume, taped it to a piece of paper, and sent it to Terrence Malick’s agent. Not long after, Malick himself called, wanting to talk philosophy. Cousins recounts this in his contribution to The Cinema of Terrence Malick, and he goes on to explain the “Humeanism of Malick’s work.” He explains Hume’s epistemology: “We have only these perceptions – he called them impressions – with which to construct our sense... Read more

Tabernacle of Witness

Last updated on: February 8, 2016 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

After the harvest of Revelation 14, John sees another great sign in heaven, angels with bowls full of the passion of God (Revelation 15:1). As he watches, the “temple of the tabernacle of the testimony (ho naos tes skenes tou marturiou) in heaven” is opened (15:5) and angels emerge to take the bowls from the living creatures and pour them out on the world (15:6-8). It is a reference to the most holy place, which contained the ark of “testimony”... Read more

True or False: Balaam's donkey spoke to him.