Trinity House: Hans Boersma says….

Last updated on: February 11, 2013 at 4:38 pm By Peter Leithart

With Peter Leithart at the helm, the newly established Trinity House instills confidence. A careful reader of Scripture, a lover of liturgical worship, and an excellent theologian, Leithart is not afraid to pursue the truth—a quality we’re in serious need of in our often confusing ecclesial and theological landscape. As he engages with the broad tradition of the church as well as with the most contemporary trends in theology, Leithart reads Scripture in the same way that theologians of the... Read more

Reason without persuasion

Last updated on: February 11, 2013 at 1:02 pm By Peter Leithart

O’Donovan again, asking, What makes “public reason” reasonable? He states the premise that “rational communication is directed to ‘persuasion’ broadly understood, that is to say, it is concerned with communicating reasons for acting, reasons for believing.” These persuasions are nourished within a tradition, but, he insists, they are not “confined within its community walls.” Conversations happen; people change their minds. Contemporary public reason, he charges, fails to “allow space for learning.” When learning is allowed as a possibility, we conclude,... Read more

Public by privation

Last updated on: February 11, 2013 at 12:29 pm By Peter Leithart

O’Donovan continues his article by asking in what sense pluralism’s public reason is public. Public and private necessitate one another, and “the private is defined negatively, by privation . . . by walling off, excluding, refusing entry. Private thought, domestic privacy, property, private association, and so on are those withheld from universal access.” Public negates this negation, or so it seems. But public areas also exclude: A public school is open to all students, but not to everyone at all.... Read more

Metaphysical pluralism

Last updated on: February 11, 2013 at 12:16 pm By Peter Leithart

In a 2008 essay in The Princeton Seminary Bulletin (since reprinted elsewhere), Oliver O’Donovan offers “Reflections on Pluralism.” He wonders at the outset why we add an “ism” to the word, and suggests that understanding “difference as plurality” reflects an anxiety about difference. Not all difference creates anxiety, but only those differences of “practical principle” that lead different subcultures to “act on contrary assumptions and pursue divergent courses in their relations with each other.” Pluralism treats these differences of practical... Read more

Eucharistic meditation

Last updated on: February 10, 2013 at 7:45 am By Peter Leithart

1 Kings 10: When the queen of Sheba perceived the wisdom of Solomon, the house he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his waiters and their attire, his cupbearers, there was no more spirit in her. As Pastor Sumpter has said, wisdom is a royal virtue. Kings need wisdom to judge and rule, builders need wisdom to harmonize material and craftsmen. Cooking is also for kings and queens, for cooks need... Read more

Exhortation

Last updated on: February 10, 2013 at 7:37 am By Peter Leithart

Paul preaches “the mystery.” He wants the Colossians to be fully assured of the mystery. He is imprisoned because of the mystery. “The mystery” is the key to everything, concealed for a time but now revealed. The union of Jews and Gentiles was veiled in the Old Testament, now everyone sees it. God’s treasure was hidden in the temple, now it’s open to all. The world is a puzzle, but we don’t need to search dark corners for missing pieces.... Read more

Anselm’s Governmental Atonement

Last updated on: February 9, 2013 at 6:11 am By Peter Leithart

Cur Deus Homo is typically viewed as the classic statement of the “satisfaction” theory of atonement. I think the accent of Anselm’s argument lies elsewhere. To be sure, satisfactio is a central term and satisfaction a central concept in the treatise. Anselm seems to use the term in much the same way as it was understood in Roman law, where satisfacere meant in general “to fulfill another’s wish, to gratify the desire of a person; when used of a debtor... Read more

Creation under construction

Last updated on: February 8, 2013 at 12:58 pm By Peter Leithart

Section 1.18 Cur Deus Homo contains a strange, very medieval digression on the question of whether the number of elect human beings is equal to, less, or greater than the number of fallen angels, and whether God created humans to make up the number of fallen angels. Through a series of arguments, Anselm proves to Boso that there are “more elect human beings than there are wicked angels.” It’s an odd question, but I think there are some profound things... Read more

Creation’s final praise

Last updated on: February 8, 2013 at 12:46 pm By Peter Leithart

Anselm ( Cur Deus Homo , 1.18) offers this lovely description of the consummation of all things. Creation consists on the one hand of the blessed city that is being built and brought to consummation. Physical creation is also destined to be renewed into something better ( in melius renovandam nec hoc futurum esse ). The latter immediately follows the former, because the higher ( maior ) nature has to be perfected before the lesser ( minor ). The characteristic... Read more

Aesthetic Theory of Atonement again

Last updated on: February 8, 2013 at 12:10 pm By Peter Leithart

God’s honor cannot be diminished or increased in itself, but when human beings refuse to honor and obey Him, Anselm says ( Cur Deus Homo , 1.15), they dishonor God in relation to themselves. In so far as they are able, the disobedient disturb the “order and beauty of the universe.” They aren’t able to do much damage because the will of God is inescapable. Those who obey God’s will obviously do not escape it; those who disobey only move... Read more