Youthening

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

Robert Pogue Harrison glances at his father’s college yearbook and finds that “twelve-year-old boys looked like little adults, their faces furrowed by the depths of time” (Juvenescence, x). We’re younger now: “the first-world face of today remains callow, even as it withers away with age, never attaining the strong senile traits of the elderly of other culture or historical eras. The difference lies not merely in our enhanced diets, health benefits, and reduced exposure to the elements but in a... Read more

Thigh of the Peace Offering

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

In the Levitical law, the priests received two particular portions of each peace offering: the “wave offering” of the breast and the “heave offering” (or better, “contribution”) of the right thigh. The purpose of this essay is to attempt to determine the reason why the second of these, the thigh, should be given to the priest. The word translated “thigh” in the passages discussed below is shoq. According to the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, “When shoq refers to a... Read more

Bestial Covenant

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

The sea beast wages war against the saints (Revelation 13:7), assisted by the land beast (13:11-15), also known as the “false prophet” (16:13; 19:20; 20:10). That the land beast is a prophet gives us a big clue to what’s happening. Prophets end and initiate covenants; prophets are the sacred architects of a new sanctuary, and the social architects of a new order. If the land beast is a false prophet, he’s initiating a new covenantal order of worship and politics,... Read more

Nevin’s Lament, Nevin’s Hope

Last updated on: February 4, 2015 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

The following remarks were given to introduce the first annual Nevin Lectures, February 7, 2014. Trinity House [now Theopolis] was founded in 2012 to promote the reformation of the church by training pastors, future pastors, and lay people in Scripture and liturgical theology. We believe the church exists for the life of the world; the waters of life flow from the Edenic sanctuary to the four corners of the earth. Through Water and Word, in a feast of Bread and... Read more

Music and the Body

Last updated on: February 4, 2015 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Daniel Albright (Panaesthetics) emphasizes the learned codes by which we discern musical meanings: “Today most of the codes that cue us to feel come from quotation, either direct quotation of musical phrases or indirect quotation of certain gestures we have learned to associate with certain emotions.” Learned where? The same place we learn all our emotional cues – at the movies! (153). Albright refers to Enro Rapee’s Motion Picture Moods for Pianists and Organists (1924) to illustrate. Still, he wants... Read more

UnProtestant Protestants

Last updated on: February 4, 2015 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Robert McAfee Brown summarizes The Spirit of Protestantism as “an openness to the judging and renewing activity of the living God made known in Jesus Christ.” It’s a willingness to “submit to the corrective activity of God,” and “to live at risk.” Protestantism claims that it’s only in “constant renewal at the hand of God that . . . the life of the church [exists]” (40-1). Brown thinks this the key difference between Roman Catholicism (and we might add Orthodoxy) and... Read more

Structure and Style in Revelation 13

Last updated on: February 4, 2015 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

John’s description of the land beast and his work in Revelation 13:11-15 is organized in a fairly neat chiasm: A. Another beast like a lamb, speaking as a dragon, 13:11 B. He has the authority of the first beast, 13:12a C. He makes land-dwellers worship the first beast, who was healed of a deadly plague, 13:12b D. He performs great signs before men, 13:13 D’. He deceives land-dwellers with signs done before the beast, 13:14a C’. He tells land-dwellers to... Read more

On the Forehead

Last updated on: February 3, 2015 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Goliath is dressed in metal: Bronze helmet, bronze scale armor, bronze greaves. His javelin is bronze, the head of his spear is iron. The original metal outfit in the Bible is the breastplate of the high priest, with its gold thread woven with other threads. With his scale armor, Goliath is a serpent. With his metal clothing, he is a serpent-priest, blaspheming rather than praising Yahweh. One thing he lacks: On his forehead, the high priest wore a “stone” of... Read more

Signs

Last updated on: February 3, 2015 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Revelation uses the word “sign” (semeion) seven times, all between chapters 12 and 20. This is John’s second book of signs, matching the early part of his gospel. Through these seven signs, new creation arrives. There are three overlapping variations in the passages that deal with signs – the grammatical number (singular or plural), the location of the sign, and the one who signifies. The grammatical number alternates: S-S-P-P-S-P-P. This corresponds exactly to the location of the sign. Each time... Read more

Of Texts and Pre-Texts

Last updated on: February 3, 2015 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Michael Allen and Scott Swain argue in their Reformed Catholicity (which I review here) that the “rule of faith” that encapsulates the main thrust of Scripture provides a key that unlocks the treasures of Scripture. The rule arises from Scripture, but then becomes a pre-understanding of the whole Bible that serves as a path into the depths of Scripture. At one level, I have no dispute with the point, or with the more general, indisputable claim that we come to all texts... Read more