Jew/Gentile

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:41 pm By Peter Leithart

NPP types often claim that the Reformers projected their own issues back into their interpretations of Paul. No doubt that happened, but (influenced by Augustine’s treatment of Pauline theology) they were more careful to note that Paul’s central concern was with Jew/Gentile questions than they are often credited. The Bern Synod of 1532, for instance, has four full chapters on the differences between the preaching of the gospel in a Jewish context and a Gentile context. The section ends up... Read more

Law and Gospel

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:41 pm By Peter Leithart

According to Paula Fredriksen’s wonderful analysis in Augustine and the Jews: A Christian Defense of Jews and Judaism , Augustine dramatically, even revolutionarily, shifted the traditional Christian understanding of law and gospel: “The old antagonistic contrast between Law and gospel . . . was undermined. Law and gospel are neither opposites nor alternatives. Whether publicly or privately, globally or individually, Law and gospel stand together as two historically specific modes of a single divine initiative of redemption . . .... Read more

Drinking the calf

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:41 pm By Peter Leithart

Why, Augustine asks, did Moses make Israel drink the ground-up gold of the calf? It’s an allegory of incorporation of the Gentiles. The golden calf is Gentile idolatry, but it is broken and humbled, ground down to dust, and then sprinkled on the water for Israel to drink – Israel here meaning, Augustine says, “the preachers of the gospels.” Thus, “through baptism, these former pagans are admitted into these Israelites’ bodies, that is, into the body of Christ, which is... Read more

Mutable holiness

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:41 pm By Peter Leithart

Augustine on visible words again: Verbs change in sound and visual sign when they are referring to the same event at different times; a future verb and a past verb refer to the same thing, but the sign changes. So too do sacraments: Christ’s future coming is announced by one set of signs, the fulfillment of that promise by another set ( quid mirum si aliis mysteriorum signaculis passio et resurrectio Christi futura promissa est, aliis iam facta annuntiatur ).... Read more

Morning Sacrifice

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:41 pm By Peter Leithart

“Think about hamburger,” I said to my daughter. She was holding her nose against the acrid smell of warm manure. The man pulled faded yellow waterproof overalls over his narrow hips and snapped the fasteners on his black rubber boots. He hooked a chain around his waist. A knife sharpener and a metal knife holster with two knives dangled from the chain. One knife was short and straight, and the other longer and curved. He was a priest ready for... Read more

Who’s redeemed?

Last updated on: February 8, 2011 at 11:34 am By Peter Leithart

The Son is sent to redeem (Galatians 4:5). He comes under the law to redeem those under the law. Redemption is manumission language. To redeem is to deliver from bondage, or to buy from bondage. Those under the law are in bondage (cf. 4:1), still under the probationary regulations that apply to minor children. So, the redeemed are the children. They are redeemed in the sense that they are brought from slavery under the law to the sonship that they... Read more

Who’s redeemed?

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:41 pm By Peter Leithart

Double Bind

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:41 pm By Peter Leithart

RD Laing offers a trenchant analysis of the letter that Raskolnikov’s mother sends him, and its effects on Raskolnikov. She is informing Raskolnikov that his sister Dunya has agreed to marry, and tells him he should be grateful and happy. If he is unhappy, he will make his mother and sister unhappy. At the same time, the letter gives all sorts of reasons for Raskolnikov to be unhappy with the arrangement: It’s clear that Dunya does not love her finance,... Read more

Can A Crime Be Committed?

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:41 pm By Peter Leithart

Think of Milbank’s question, Can a Gift Be Given? Derrida says no, because the purity of the gift is always polluted by expectations of return. Dostoevsky asks, Can a Crime Be Committed? And he returns something like Derrida’s answer, though ironically. Raskolnikov claims in his confession to Sonya that he “wanted to murder . . . without casuistry, to murder for my own sake, for myself alone!” His confession is a confession of failure to do what he wants, because... Read more

& Punishment

Last updated on: February 8, 2011 at 5:15 am By Peter Leithart

Dostoevsky wrote about crime, but not only crime: He also wrote about punishment. As Wasoliek suggests, Raskolnikov doesn’t flee the crime, or try to cover it. He seems instead to flee toward it, regularly leaving clues, nearly confessing, reviving Porfiry’s investigation when it is flagging. Is this masochism? Is it repentance? Wasoliek argues that Rasknikov needs to fail in order to succeed. He murders to prove himself a bronze man, a Napoleon who transcends the normal rules. With that motivation,... Read more