Self gift is gift

Last updated on: September 10, 2012 at 5:12 pm By Peter Leithart

Sacraments, Louis-Marie Chauvet argues ( The Sacraments – The Word of God at the Mercy of the Body ), are matters of symbolic exchange. The sacrament is a gift and every gift demands a return gift. Not quite, argues Belcher ( Efficacious Engagement: Sacramental Participation in the Trinitarian Mystery 35): “No doubt influenced by traditional medieval Western understandings of consecration, Chauvet identifies the institution narrative as the moment when the gifts of God, the body and blood of Christ are... Read more

Sacraments and salvation

Last updated on: September 10, 2012 at 4:34 pm By Peter Leithart

Kimberly Hope Belcher states the thesis of her Efficacious Engagement: Sacramental Participation in the Trinitarian Mystery early on. She says that the premise of classic Catholic sacramental theology is that God is at work in them. All other definitional discussions are subordinate to this basic conviction. Citing Thomas’ insistence that the sacraments are first of all signs, she points out that he explains the purpose of signs by reference to the economy of redemption: (more…) Read more

Young David

Last updated on: September 10, 2012 at 3:40 pm By Peter Leithart

Donatello’s innovation in depicting David, Kenneth Clark informs us ( The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form , 54), captures the spirit of Renaissance: He transforms “the king of Israel into a young Greek god.” Both adjectives are critical: young and Greek: In the middle ages “the image of David more familiar in medieval art was an old man, bearded and crowned, playing on the harp or on a chime of bells; and although the young David was not unknown... Read more

Sermon notes

Last updated on: September 10, 2012 at 5:21 am By Peter Leithart

INTRODUCTION Yahweh promises to rescue His chosen servant Israel (Isaiah 41:8-9). But Israel isn’t just an object of Yahweh’s care. Israel is also an instrument of Yahweh’s justice. THE TEXT “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles . . . .” (Isaiah 42:1-43:7). (more…) Read more

Eucharistic meditation

Last updated on: September 9, 2012 at 6:43 am By Peter Leithart

Exodus 35:2: For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy day, a Sabbath of complete rest to Yahweh. As Pastor Sumpter pointed out, the instructions for building the tabernacle end with a Sabbath command and the narrative about building begins with a Sabbath command, before it goes on to describe the labor of Israel on the house of God. In between the covenant is broken and renewed. The passage shows that... Read more

Exhortation

Last updated on: September 9, 2012 at 6:00 am By Peter Leithart

When Yahweh created the world, His Spirit hovered over the waters to transform the empty waste into glory and beauty. When Yahweh re-created the world in the tabernacle, His Spirit hovered again, this time over the craftsmen Bezalel and Oholiab, to whom He gave wisdom to make things. The Spirit overflowed to everyone. Skilled women spun purple and scarlet material and prepared coverings from goats’ hair. Wise men constructed the furniture of God’s tent. The Spirit continues to re-create through... Read more

Atonement

Last updated on: September 7, 2012 at 6:24 pm By Peter Leithart

Did Jesus make atonement on the cross? Not exactly, says David Moffitt in Atonement and the Logic of Resurrection in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Supplements to Novum Testamentum) . According to the reviewer in Review of Biblical Literature, Moffitt appeals to the atonement rites of the Old Testament as proof: He argues that “the heavenly holy of holies as the place where atonement was made, not on the cross at Jesus’ death. Against scholars who spiritualize or moralize Jesus’... Read more

LA Theology Conference

Last updated on: September 7, 2012 at 11:02 am By Peter Leithart

I am honored to be a speaker at the first annual Los Angeles Theology Conference at Biola University, January 17-18, 2013. The topic is Christology, and additional information is found here: http://latheology.com/ Read more

Meaning

Last updated on: September 7, 2012 at 6:51 am By Peter Leithart

I’ve been leading students through John Frame’s The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God (A Theology of Lordship) for the past 15 years, and every year I’m impressed all over again. Frame is solidly biblical, creative, careful. His multiperspectival approach allows him to incorporate the best insights of nearly everyone, and also to resist all forms of reduction. He says this, for instance, in his argument that meaning is application (97-8): “When we ask him to know the meaning of... Read more

Shame Interrupted

Last updated on: September 7, 2012 at 4:56 am By Peter Leithart

Edward Welch’s Shame Interrupted: How God Lifts the Pain of Worthlessness and Rejection is a remarkable book. It offers a penetrating, discomfiting analysis of the experience of shame, which Welch summarizes under the headings of nakedness and exposure, isolation and being an outcast, contamination and self-disgust. He sees it everywhere – in the man whose anger bursts out uncontrollably, in addicts and in eating disorders, in victims of sexual abuse, in children subjected to incessant criticism from parents. Welch’s antidote... Read more

What Christian group is known for door-to-door evangelism?