Advocacy v. Art

Last updated on: September 16, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

9/11 pushed novelist Ian McEwan from unsettled agnosticism into atheism. Since that day, McEwan says, he has felt that “religion was distinctly unhelpful in making compassionate, reasonable judgments about people’s lives. On the whole, the secular mind seems far superior in making reasonable judgments.” That is an odd conclusion to draw from 9/11, especially for a novelist. Novelists are supposed to trade in particularities, and it’s worth recalling that it wasn’t Jehovah’s Witnesses or Jews who slammed the airplanes into... Read more

Advocacy v. Art

Last updated on: September 16, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Instruments Make the Man

Last updated on: September 16, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Samuel tells Saul he will meet prophets coming down from a high place (from worship) playing instruments – harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre (1 Samuel 10:5). Each of these has a history; and the history of each is woven with Israel’s maturation as a people. Israel’s musical development tracks her development as the people of God. Jubal, a descendant of Cain (Genesis 4:21), was the father of music. There is precious little music among the descendants of Seth. When Moses... Read more

Instruments Make the Man

Last updated on: September 16, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

The Seven Angels

Last updated on: September 16, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

The angels who receive trumpets are identified as “the seven angels who stand before Yahweh.” The phrasing suggests that they have already been identified somewhere, somehow. Where? The angels who perform various actions in Revelation are the twenty-four elders that were identified at the beginning of the book. These are seven of the twenty-four. But they seem to be introduced as a group: You know, the seven angels who stand before the Lord’s throne. The only other place where we... Read more

Paul and the Troublers of Galatia