Assyrian Exodus

Last updated on: May 10, 2012 at 5:00 am By Peter Leithart

In Isaiah 36, Sennacherib comes on the scene “ascending” ( ‘alah ). He “went up” to Jerusalem. At the end of the narrative, though, he returns, descending back to Nineveh where he came from. Jesus’ story is descent followed by ascent; other kings ascend first, then descend. Isaiah 37:37 describes Sennacherib’s departure with four verbs: He departed, went, returned, dwelt. The fourfold repetition emphasizes the completeness of the departure; the whole land to the four corners weas cleared of Assyrians.... Read more

Unrepeatable God

Last updated on: May 9, 2012 at 4:38 pm By Peter Leithart

In The Living and True God: The Mystery of the Trinity (New Revised Edition ) (p. 54) , Luis Ladaria makes the intriguing point that the Persons of the Trinity cannot be persons in precisely the same sense: “we can in effect doubt that the term ‘person’ or hypostasis means exactly the same when we apply it to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. The ‘numbers’ in God are always problematic, all in him is unrepeatable.”... Read more

Martin Luther, Kabbalist

Last updated on: May 9, 2012 at 4:18 pm By Peter Leithart

“Why is the Tetragrammaton kept separate from other names?” Luther asks. “Can it be so sacred, and other names so profane, that it is polluted when brought into contact with them? Such would be the fictions of the Jews.” No Kabbalist he. Yet, he goes on: (more…) Read more

Not Quite the End of Sacrifice

Last updated on: May 9, 2012 at 6:42 am By Peter Leithart

Christianity brought the “end of sacrifice,” the replacement of the bloody animal sacrifices of paganism and Judaism with the sacrificial feast of the Eucharist. But not quite the end, or at least not quite everywhere. In a 1903 article, Fred Conybeare explored the “survival of animal sacrifices inside the Christian church.” The Armenian church is a case in point. When King Irdat was converted by the preaching of Gregory the Illuminator, himself the scion of the “leading pagan priestly family”... Read more

Hegel Heretic

Last updated on: May 8, 2012 at 5:00 pm By Peter Leithart

Who else but Cyril O’Regan to write the essay on Hegel’s Trinitarian theology in The Oxford Handbook of the Trinity (Oxford Handbooks in Religion) ? As with Schleiermacher, Ja’s and Nein’s are both in order(pp. 257-9). On the plus side (sort of): “Hegel makes the symbol or ‘representation’ ( Vorstellung ) of the Trinity central once against for Protestant theology by regarding it as nothing less than the symbol of symbols.” But this plus is soon negated: “Thought rightly, the... Read more

Ja und Nein zu Schleiermacher

Last updated on: May 8, 2012 at 4:45 pm By Peter Leithart

Gilles Emery and Matthew Levering have assembled a star-studded collection of contributors for their The Oxford Handbook of the Trinity (Oxford Handbooks in Religion) . The book covers the entire history of Trinitarian thought – from the Old and New Testaments, through patristic and medieval developments, into the Reformation and modern era – and then surveys contemporary dogmatic and practical treatments of the Trinity. It’s a big book – 600+ pages – but the individual articles are fairly brief and,... Read more

Legend of the White Cowl

Last updated on: May 8, 2012 at 4:31 pm By Peter Leithart

“When did destiny become manifest?” asks Ernest Lee Tuveson in his classic Redeemer Nation: The Idea of America’s Millennial Role (Midway Reprint Series) . He answers the earliest formulations of the apocalyptic American millennialism arises in the 1760s, best exemplified by the poems and sermons of Timothy Dwight. At the end of his discussion, Tuveson (pp. 134-6) makes a revealing comparison of the American sense of destiny with the Russian legend of the white cowl. According to the legend, Constantine... Read more

Sermon notes

Last updated on: May 7, 2012 at 5:47 am By Peter Leithart

INTRODUCTION We want help making a decision, guidance for marriage and child-rearing, instructions about how to overcome sin. In response, God gives us a book full of genealogies, architectural blueprints and procedures for offering sacrifice, narratives of ancient history. The Bible doesn’t merely teach us lessons. God gave it to forge our memories, open our eyes, and stretch our imaginations. THE TEXT “Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib king of Assyria came... Read more

Structure of Isaiah 36-37

Last updated on: May 7, 2012 at 5:09 am By Peter Leithart

Isaiah’s account of Sennacherib’s siege of Jerusalem is organized in a neat chiasm: A. Sennacherib’s invasion and the Rabshakeh’s message, 26:1-22 B. Hezekiah goes to temple, Isaiah prophesies, 37:1-7 A’/C. The Rabshakeh’s boast is repeated in a letter, 37:8-13 B’. Hezekiah goes to temple, Isaiah prophesies, 37:14-35 A’. Sennacherib driven from the land, 37:36-38 The structure highlights the fact that the turning point of the story is the Rabshakeh’s decision to record his boast against Yahweh in writing. Jerusalem’s deliverance... Read more

Eucharistic meditation

Last updated on: May 6, 2012 at 6:35 am By Peter Leithart

Genesis 2:9; 3:6: Out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food . . . . So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. The word translated as “covet” is first used in Genesis 2-3, where it means “desirable.” When Eve... Read more