John 1: The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Moses ascended Mount Sinai and entered Yahweh’s cloud, and when he came out his face radiated the glory of the cloud. As Pastor Sumpter has said, the tabernacle is the cloud descended from the mountain so that all Israel can be as Moses – transformed from glory to glory. Then we... Read more
The ark of the covenant is made of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, a cubit and a half high. It’s covered inside and out with pure gold, and has four gold rings at its four feet. The cover is also pure gold, two and a half cubits by one and a half cubits . . . . We’re only a few verses into today’s sermon text, and you’re already glazing over.... Read more
I am filmmaker by trade. 22 years. It’s all I have done. I have been a Christian for 15 of those years. When my wife and I began having children, education became very important. I stumbled onto Doug Wilson and knew we had start a Classical Christian school. Then we stumbled onto James Jordan and had to rethink everything. Then we found Peter Leithart and it all came together. The works of Jordan and Leithart have shaped the distinctive culture... Read more
The gospel is the engine of cultural creativity. But how? “A certain sense of guilt is a corollary of any privilege even when the privilege is deserved,” observes Paul Tournier in Guilt & Grace a Psychological Study (37). He illustrates: “An employee of quality feels it towards his fellows when an appreciative chief entrusts him with the highest responsibilities. A girl who is asked to sing in church at Christmas has this feeling towards a friend who would have dearly... Read more
Kant ( Kant: The Metaphysics of Morals (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy) ) defines envy penetratingly as “a tendency to perceive with displeasure the good of others, although it detracts in no way from one’s own, and which, when it leads to action (in order to diminish that good) is called qualified envy, but otherwise only ill-will ( invidentia ); it is however only an indirect, malevolent frame of mind, namely a disinclination to see our own good... Read more
John is told to measure the temple but not the court (Revelation 11:2). The verb can mean “except” but regularly connotes more than simple exclusion (cf. John 2:15; 9:34-35; 12:31). John is told to “cast out” ( ekbale exothen ) the court to be trampled by the nations. The verb ekballo occurs frequently in the LXX, and never with exothen . In Leviticus 14:40, however, the verb is used with exo in a passage describing the disposal of the stones... Read more
An addition to my article at firstthings.com: I say there that the “first question” Christians should ask about American deployments is whether there are fellow Christians in harm’s way. My point was to emphasize that American Christians need to learn to see past national interest and recognize that the brotherhood of the church is as catholic as the church herself. At the same time, that way of stating the point is too narrow. Christians do good especially to those of... Read more
An addendum to my post at firstthings.com today: There’s a generational issue that the aging leaders of the religious right needs to be addressed in a serious way. Most of my students and younger colleagues do not identify in any way with the old religious right. They are anti-abortion and (usually) oppose the homosexual rights agenda, but they bristle at aggressive American foreign policy and they are conscious of the imbalances and injustices of today’s capitalist system (which isn’t really... Read more
According to the Chronicler, Hezekiah is a new David. He “did right in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that his father David had done” (2 Chronicles 29:2). Like David in 1 Chronicles, Hezekiah organizes the priesthood and Levitical choir to reconsecrate the temple (2 Chronicles 29:3-36) and gathers contributions for the temple service (31:2-19). When Sennacherib threatens Jerusalem, he encourages the people with “Be strong and courageous,” which was David’s exhortation to Solomon (2 Chronicles 32:7; cf. 1... Read more
Next door at the main First Things site, I offer my reflections on the import of Tuesday’s election: www.firstthings.com. Read more
Leithart
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