Marital contradictions

Last updated on: April 13, 2013 at 4:12 pm By Peter Leithart

American marriage is unique, argues Andrew Cherlin ( The Marriage-Go-Round: The State of Marriage and the Family in America Today , 9-10), because American marriage marries individualism and marriage: “Family life in America comprises both cultural models – marriage and individualism. Each is part of the cultural tool kit . . . that people use in constructing their personal lives. You can use one set of tools today and another tomorrow. You may cite the prestige and material advantages of... Read more

Eagle and Dragon

Last updated on: April 12, 2013 at 2:54 pm By Peter Leithart

Ox, Lion, Eagle, Man. The faces of the cherubim. And the faces of four constellations of the Zodiac: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius, spaced every four constellations around the ecliptic. Scorpio ? He’s no eagle. There is an eagle constellation, Aquila, but it’s along the celestial equator rather than the ecliptic; it’s not part of the Zodiac. So how did an eagle face make its way into the cherubim? Even if, as some have suggested, Scorpio was sometimes rendered as an... Read more

Overcome by Blood

Last updated on: April 12, 2013 at 2:11 pm By Peter Leithart

There is war in heaven, Michael & Co. versus Dragon and angels. Michael wins and casts the dragon from heaven to earth, where he chases down the woman’s offspring (Revelation 12). Caird ( A Commentary on the Revelation of St. John the Divine , 155-7) draws from this an integrated theology of atonement. The war in heaven, he argues, is a legal one. Satan is an accuser; Michael in Jewish thought was “counsel for the defence.” What happens in the... Read more

Hero and Dragon

Last updated on: April 12, 2013 at 1:54 pm By Peter Leithart

John sees in heaven a woman in labor ready to give birth to a son while a dragon waits to devour the newborn (Revelation 12). It’s a scene of Mary and Jesus and Herod, Eve and the Seed and Satan, Israel and the Messiah. It is also a story that reverberates throughout mythology and literature. G.B. Caird ( A Commentary on the Revelation of St. John the Divine , 147-8) summarizes: “In the folklore of many nations there are found... Read more

Old and New

Last updated on: April 12, 2013 at 12:05 pm By Peter Leithart

One of the ways Augustine distinguishes between the “invisible” and “visible” church is in terms of the complex interaction of Old and New covenants ( On Baptism, Against the Donatists , 1.15 in St. Augustin the Writings Against the Manicheans and Against the Donatists ). Old and New are not, in this context, periods of time but rather different ways of life. Some lived in the new covenant, by the Spirit, even under the old; some who have received the... Read more

Remission Withdrawn

Last updated on: April 12, 2013 at 11:53 am By Peter Leithart

In the course of his On Baptism, Against the Donatists (in St. Augustin the Writings Against the Manicheans and Against the Donatists ), Augustine considers the case of someone who seeks baptism “in deceit.” Are his sins remitted? Yes, Augustine says, but only for a moment. The “holy power” of baptism is so great that sins are removed “the moment he received it,” but then immediately his remission is cancelled and sins are reimposed. The Spirit “has both been present... Read more

Jesus Is Lord, Caesar Not

Last updated on: April 12, 2013 at 7:29 am By Peter Leithart

Jesus Is Lord, Caesar Is Not: Evaluating Empire in New Testament Studies , edited by Scot McKnight and Joseph B. Modica, aims to provide an accurate and balanced treatment of the New Testament’s treatment of empire. In their introduction, McKnight and Modica define empire criticism as a mode of interpretation that “asks us to listen closer to the sounds of the empire and the sounds of challenging empire at work in the pages of the New Testament” (17). If the... Read more

Science Beyond Materialism

Last updated on: April 12, 2013 at 5:12 am By Peter Leithart

I offer some thoughts on the controversial Rupert Sheldrake at First Things today. Read more

Sleeping dogs

Last updated on: April 11, 2013 at 1:00 pm By Peter Leithart

Isaiah searingly indicts the “watchmen” of Judah. They are blind – not a good thing in a watchman (Isaiah 56:10-12). They are like dumb dogs, incapable of barking out a warning when danger shows up. But they wouldn’t bark anyway because they spend their days lying around sleeping. They live a dog’s life, not the life of a watchdog. They are sedated by two things. The first is money. They are greedy of soul, never satisfied. Because of their greed,... Read more

Forest and Field

Last updated on: April 11, 2013 at 12:48 pm By Peter Leithart

Isaiah invites two categories of beasts to come to the house of God: Beasts of the field, and beasts of the forest (56:9). What kinds of beasts does he have in mind? Both are wild animals. Beast ( chayyah ) is undomesticated; while cattle ( behemah ) is a general term for livestock. Sometimes beasts of the field refer to predators (cf. 2 Samuel 21:10; Ezekiel 29:5), but the beasts of the field also include herbivores like gazelles and deer... Read more