The Ecumenism of the Anti-Ecumenical

Last updated on: October 6, 2015 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Neil Young’s forthcoming We Gather Together is a pre-history of the Religious Right. It is also a history of the contested ecumenism of the anti-ecumenical churches. The two histories go together. How did the Religious Right so rapidly put together a coalition for family and traditional values? Young shows that they didn’t create it out of thin air. In the background were several decades of interaction, specifically among those American Christians who were most suspicious of the ecumenical efforts of the... Read more

Throne of the Beast

Last updated on: October 5, 2015 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

The fifth angel pours out his bowl on the “throne of the beast” (Revelation 16:10-110). There are a lot of beasts in Revelation. Which one is it? The fact that it is in the fifth slot gives us a clue. God created swarming things on earth and in the sea on the fifth day, crowds and clouds. In Genesis 1, it specifically says that God created the great sea monsters on that day as well. They are singled out by... Read more

The One

Last updated on: October 5, 2015 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Peter Adamson (Philosophy in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds) claims that “A good case can be made for seeing Plotinus as the most in fluential Western philosopher of all time, apart from Plato and Aristotle themselves.” He fused Plato with some of Aristotle’s ideas, added Stoic concepts, to create what he called “Platonism” and what we call “Neoplatonism.” It was deeply influential on Augustine, and through Augustine on all of Western Christian thought, and continued to have a direct effect... Read more

The Era of Christian Expansion

Last updated on: October 5, 2015 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Protestants look back longingly to the Reformation as one of the great periods of church history, and it was in many respects. In terms of the global reach of Christianity, though, the sixteenth century was a low point. Since its beginning, Christianity has rarely been confined to so contracted an area. In the fourth century, Christianity encircled the Mediterranean. It was still strong in Palestine, in the Middle East, and further east. Jerusalem was a largely Christian city for many... Read more

Strangers and Aliens

Last updated on: October 5, 2015 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

There were Gentiles living in the land that were not part of Israel. They did not necessarily share the faith of Israel; they were not circumcised; they were not ethnically related to Israel. Yahweh insisted that they were not to be grudgingly tolerated, but were to be treated with respect and even love. Being a sojourner or a stranger in a land is part of Israel’s heritage, Christians claim that our fathers were strangers in a land that was not their... Read more

Egyptian Bees

Last updated on: October 2, 2015 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

The subtitle of Gene Kritsky’s forthcoming Tears of Re is “Beekeeping in Ancient Egypt.” The linkage of deity, mourning, and beekeeping is too tantalizing to pass up. The title is based on a myth found in a papyrus from about 300 BC: “The god Re wept and the tears from his eyes fell on the ground and turned into a bee. The bee made (his honeycomb) and busied himself with the flowers of every plant; and so wax was made and... Read more

Autonomy or Theonomy

Last updated on: October 2, 2015 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Peter Adamson finds some general trends in his forthcoming study of Philosophy in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds. Hellenistic philosophy was broadly anti-Platonic, denying the existing of “immaterial entities” and devoted to physicalism. In one of his many moments of whimsy, Adamson suggests that the change is so sudden and dramatic that it is “as if Alexander the Great sent out a memo to all philosophers telling them that incorporeal substances were no longer welcome.” Hellenistic philosophy was generally about ethics.... Read more

Mother in Israel

Last updated on: October 2, 2015 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Deborah is the only female judge, and the only judge who does anything close to what we would recognizing as “judging.” She is a prophetess, and holds court sitting under a palm tree between Ramah and Bethel (Judges 4:5). She also does what the other Hebrew judges do – leads Israel in war against Gentile oppressors. She agrees to accompany Barak when he goes out to fight against the Canaanites. In the song she composes after the victory (see the... Read more

Jesus and the Professional Theologians

Last updated on: October 1, 2015 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

On the Sabbath after the last day of the Feast of Booths, Jesus has an intense debate with Jewish leaders in Herod’s temple, climaxing with Jesus’ declaration, “Before Abraham was, I am.” The Jews have recently been eager to execute an adulteress. Now they’ve found a new target, a blasphemer, and they search the ground for stones to pelt at Jesus. As He slips away, Jesus passes a man blind from birth. He stops, spits on the ground, makes clay... Read more

Self-Surprise

Last updated on: October 1, 2015 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

“I surprised myself,” says the woman who courageously fights off a mugger, the wife caught in an affair, the student who pipes up to disagree with the celebrity professor, the father dismayed by his rage at an unruly child. It’s such a common expression that we fail to see how odd it is. Is self-surprise really possible? Is the expression hyperbole, and self-satisfied hyperbole at that? Does it mean “If you had seen me, you would have been surprised”? The... Read more