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Presbyterians at the Table

Last updated on: June 7, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Ronald Byars’s Come and See is a piece of theological/religious reporting, but on a topic that doesn’t often get press coverage – the movement among Presbyterians (in the PCUSA) toward weekly communion. Byars documents that the number of churches that celebrate communion each week is increasing, examines the pastoral challenges with moving a congregation from infrequent to more frequent communion, and discusses some of the associated issues like the inclusion of children at the Lord’s table and sacramental catechesis. He addresses... Read more

Ancient Influence

Last updated on: June 7, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

The possibility that the Babylonian “creation” stories were influenced by the biblical account are usually dismissed quickly for chronological reasons. The Babylonian texts are, it is said, much earlier than Genesis. John Walton thinks this quick dismissal too quick (Ancient Israelite Literature in its Cultural Context, 36): “Though the chronological argument is considered the strongest and is often the only reason cited before this theory is summarily dismissed, even Heidel was aware of the inherent difficulties in this line of... Read more

Duration

Last updated on: June 6, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Corey Latta borrows the title of his When the Eternal Can Be Met from CS Lewis’s The Great Divorce. The book is a study of the influence of Henri Bergson’s theory of time on the post-conversion writings of Lewis, TS Eliot, and Auden. He notes that none of these writers entirely discarded their previous training and conceptuality in becoming Christian apologists, and argues that for each the problem of time was a central preoccupation before and after conversion. In fact, each... Read more

Who Marries Whom?

Last updated on: June 6, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Through Isaiah, the Lord promises, “as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you; and the rejoicing of the bridegroom over the bride, your God will rejoice over you” (62:5). There are multiple difficulties here. First, sons (plural!) marry their (virgin!) mother. Second, God is the bridegroom to the same bride. Some commentators skim past the difficulties, saying that Zion’s sons will marry – be covenantally committed to – Yahweh. Matthew Henry takes the virgin in the... Read more

Fingers

Last updated on: June 6, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,” David writes (Psalm 8:3). Why would God create with His fingers? Why not His hand? Fingers are needed for subtle work. Hands are instruments of power; fingers are organs of skill. Hands are political. Fingers are artistic. Hands can push, strike, slap, but they can’t manipulate – they aren’t fully manus – without fingers. God writes with His finger (Exodus 20:12; 31:18). He creates with His fingers because, as David... Read more

Research Project

Last updated on: June 6, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

The project: Trace the use of “perichoretic” modes of thought in modern philosophy, particularly French philosophy. Follow these easy steps: 1) Start with Gabriel Marcel, Henri Bergson, Merleau-Ponty. Throw in Polanyi like paprika. 2) Investigate links with Trinitarian theologians and the nouvelle theologie. 3) Follow through the after-story by looking at French post-structuralism. 4) Write. 5) Publish. 6) Rake in the royalties and bathe in lifelong celebrity. Read more

Blood and Flesh, Earth and Heaven

Last updated on: June 6, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

A Pyramid Text (see Faulkner, Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, 64) includes a curse from a Pharaoh against enemies: “I am stronger than they . . . their hearts fall to my fingers, their entrails are for the denizens of the sky, their blood is for the denizens of the earth.” It’s a common enough curse, heard most recently during the last days of Saddam Hussein. But the division of blood and entrails, and the correlation with earth and sky, may give... Read more

Mutual Coronation

Last updated on: June 6, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Isaiah 62:3 has numerous parallels with Isaiah 28:1-5. 1) Both passages use the word crown (‘atarah). It appears three times in chapter 28 and again in 62:3. The word is never used elsewhere in Isaiah. 2) Both passages speak of beauty (tif’arah). In 28:1, 3, the proud crown of Ephraim is knocked off and trampled, and Ephraim is described as a ziyz (blossom, also the crown of the high priest) whose beauty (tif’arah) is fading. 28:5 uses tif’arah to describe the... Read more

Abandoned Temple

Last updated on: June 5, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Ancient Near Eastern texts often refer to a god abandoning his house, the temple, sometimes in outrage over the evils of the people, sometimes because the people’s time has come to an end. Whenever the god leaves, the house and the city where it’s housed is left unprotected. Enemies come in to plunder and destroy. In some cases, individuals are also abandoned, with similarly disastrous results. As Jeffrey Niehaus notes (Ancient Near Eastern Themes in Biblical Theology125-35), the Bible tells... Read more

New Name

Last updated on: June 5, 2014 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Jesus promises the overcomers in the church at Philadelphia that He will set them up as pillars of His temple and inscribe them with a triple name – the name of God, the name of new Jerusalem, and Jesus’ own “new name” (Revelation 3:12). New names are common in the Bible. The Lord Himself adopts new names as He unveils Himself progressively in time: El Shaddai, Elohim, Yahweh, Yahweh Zebaoth, Adonai Yahweh. And the covenant partners He selects often get... Read more

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