It was Jodocus van Lodenstein, the Dutch reformer, who first coined epigram, ‘Ecclesia reformata semper reformanda est secundum Verbum Dei: the church is reformed and always being reformed according to the Word of God.’ Central to that ongoing reforming work in our day is the recovery of richly Biblical worship. That is why I am so grateful for the work of the Trinity Institute and its vision of teaching and training a whole new generation of Christians to worship our... Read more
INTRODUCTION As He has done before (Isaiah 41:1), Yahweh again summons the peoples to court to present their cases against Him (43:8-9). In the courtroom of history, Israel is a witness in Yahweh’s favor (43:10, 12; 44:8), proving that Yahweh alone is God (43:10). At the center of His defense is the fulfillment of His promise to bring Israel back from exile (43:14). THE TEXT “Bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes, and the deaf,... Read more
Patrick Coleman notes in his Anger, Gratitude, and the Enlightenment Writer (pp. 9-10) that early Enlightenment writers didn’t necessarily dismiss God. They merely defanged him: “Enlightenment writers were acutely conscious of the ways in which secular as well as ecclesiastical authorities could brandish the image of an angry God to instill fear and obedience in their subjects . . . . Scientific investigation could also be inhibited by warnings that God would be offended if, repeating the sin of Adam... Read more
Locke ( Two Treatises of Government ) argues that political authority, because it exists only by the consent of free people, cannot exercise power beyond the purposes for which it was constituted. Because it exists for the protection of property, it cannot have power to take property without consent. He illustrates; but the illustration is not reassuring: “to let us see that even absolute power, where it is necessary, is not arbitrary by being absolute, but is still limited by... Read more
At the beginning of the first of his Two Treatises of Government , John Locke refutes the Scriptural arguments of Robert Filmer’s Patriarcha ( Filmer: ‘Patriarcha’ and Other Writings (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought) ). Filmer claims that political authority is grounded in paternal authority, and characterizes paternal authority as absolute and supreme, an authority even over the life and death of his children. Locke argues that Filmer’s biblical citations are one-sided, and points to the joint... Read more
The demons that emerge from the abyssal cloud in Revelation 12 are initially are described as being like locusts. We know what that means. In the Egyptian plague, the scorpions cover the ground so that no one can see the land, and they eat and eat, eating everything that is left behind after the plague of hail destroyed all the green plants (Exodus 10:5). They cover the surface of the land at eat plants and fruit until nothing green is... Read more
Following the lead of John Paul II’s theology of the body, I offer some reflections on artistic depictions of the human body at http://www.firstthings.com/ this morning. Read more
John Paul II has some wonderful passages in his discussion of Mathew 22:30, “In the resurrection they take neither wife nor husband, but are like the angels in heaven.” According to his analysis, this is not an annulment of the body or of sexuality but the fulfillment. For him, the beatific vision is individuals absorbed so in God that they rediscover everything and themselves in Him. As he writes in Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology Of The... Read more
I have generally used Leithart.com to share reading notes, engage in speculations in exploratory essays, record random thoughts and asides, occasionally to respond to critics. It’s not typically been a place for me to make personal announcements. This is an exception. For the past several months, I have been working with several friends to establish a study center and pastoral training institute, the Trinity Institute, in Birmingham, Alabama. Beginning in the fall of 2013, the Institute will begin offering several... Read more
In his contribution to Rethinking Trinitarian Theology: Disputed Questions And Contemporary Issues in Trinitarian Theology , Emmanuel Durand offers an Augustinian treatment of the role of the Spirit in the Father-Son relation: Generation is not merely a “mechanical” operation of divine essence or of the Father, but an expression of love. Love must accompany “ever father worthy of the name,” and thus “One could say that this love is ‘concomitant’ to generation.” More elaborately, (more…) Read more
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