Evolution is a fact, says Jerry Coyne in Why Evolution Is True . Early on, he presents some of the evidence: “It is a remarkable fact that while there are many living species, all of us – you, me, the elephant, and the potted cactus – share the same fundamental traits. Among these are the biochemical pathways that we use to produce energy, our standard four-letter DNA, and how that code is read and translated into proteins. This tell us... Read more
As a teacher, Dr. Leithart modeled the deep and careful reading of Scripture that first attracted me to his writing. He also modeled a keen interest in tracing out the liturgical and cultural ramifications of the Bible. Academic theology departments are often sadly compartmentalized: one has to decide whether to inhabit the “Biblical Studies” box, the Systematics box, or the Historical Theology box—and never (or too rarely) do the sub-disciplines meet. Not so with Dr. Leithart. If the goal of... Read more
I was led to the work of Jim Jordan and Peter Leithart at seminary. As I read and listened, I came to realize that the Bible is bigger and more beautiful than I’d ever dreamed. And fun – I started reading Scripture once more with the hunger I’d had as a new Christian. After seven years of ordained ministry, I still read Scripture with Jordan and Leithart, and am still surprised, delighted, challenged, unsettled, and edified. More importantly, their combined... Read more
Michael Jenson concludes in his Martyrdom and Identity: The Self on Trial that, while martyrdom is a form of Christian identity, it is not a matter of self-narration: “Martyrdom is not a sign that the Christian self is always at odds with earthly government; but neither is the authentic Christian given to collusion with the state and its values. Martyrdom is not an assertion of the self through action, but rather a suffering act which refuses that assertion. Neither is... Read more
The Economist recently reviewed Halik Kochanski’s The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War , which the reviewer called the first “comprehensive English-language history of Poland at war.” Even in the brief format of a review, it makes for numbing reading. For instance: “Poland fought on four fronts. One force was in Britain, drawn from those who had escaped the defeat in 1939. It helped liberate the Netherlands. Another was drawn from the deportees in the... Read more
After listening to 20+ students talk about Isaiah 45:1-13, I’ve concluded that it’s a chiasm: A. Cyrus’ way is smoothed as the Lord shatters city gates and gives him treasures, vv 1-4 B. Yahweh the Creator does this to make Himself known, vv 5-7 C. Righteousness rains down and produces a crop of righteousness, v 8 B’. Yahweh makes Adam/Israel from earth and stretches the heavens, vv 9-12 A’. Yahweh smooths Cyrus’ way so he can build Yahweh’s city, v... Read more
Boyarin again ( Dying for God: Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism (Figurae: Reading Medieval Culture) , 9), suggesting a linguistic paradigm for understanding the divergences and interactions between Christianity and Judaism: “Separate languages . . . are merely artifacts of the official canonization of a particular dialect as the official language of a given group . . . . If one were to travel from Paris to Florence speaking only the local dialects in each town or... Read more
In the introduction to his Dying for God: Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism (Figurae: Reading Medieval Culture) , Daniel Boyarin reviews the history of the history of Christianity and Judaism, criticizing the common older view that Christianity is the “daughter” of Judaism. Recent scholars tell a different story: “if we are to speak of families at all, we need to speak of a twin birth of Christianity and rabbinic Judaism as two forms of Judaism, and not... Read more
For Clement of Alexandria, not death but martyrdom is the great leveler: “Just as it is noble for a man to die for virtue, for freedom, and for himself, just so is it for woman. For it is not peculiar to the nature of males, but to the nature of the good. Therefore, the elder and the young person and the house-slave submitting to the commandment will live faithfully and, if it is necessary to die, which is to say... Read more
According to Michael Waldstein’s introduction, the “single main argument” that runs through Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology Of The Body (TOB) is “the teaching of Humanae Vitae about the inseparability of the unitive and procreative meaning of the conjugal act,” and the insistence of that encyclical that this inseparability is “re-reading the ‘langauge of the body’ in the truth.’” I don’t doubt that this is the trajectory of the text, especially for a Catholic reader. Reading it... Read more
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Leithart
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