Right Reformation

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:03 am By Peter Leithart

Many of the debates in the Reformed world these days have a sizable church-historical, historical-theological component. What was the Reformation about? How much was it in continuity with the patristic and medieval past? To what extent did Protestant Orthodoxy or American revivalism mislead the original Reformation vision? Some position themselves as defenders of the Reformation against dangerous deviations, but for all the respect offered to the Reformation among contemporary Reformed theologians, many function with a strangely ahistorical conception of the... Read more

Sending forth spirit

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:02 am By Peter Leithart

Some thoughts arising from a discussion of Proverbs 29:8, 11 with Toby Sumpter. Verse 11 says that a fool “sends forth all his spirit, but a wise man holds it back.” ”Sending forth spirit” is what Yahweh does in creating (Psalm 104:30), what Jesus does on the cross (John 19:30), on Easter (John 20:22), from the right hand of the Father (John 15:26; Acts 2). But the proverb indicates that there’s a human analog to that divine sending: Fools at... Read more

Irony

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:45 pm By Peter Leithart

Yale’s David Gelernter reviews Martin Amis’ Pregnant Widow in the current issue of The Weekly Standard , and uses the occasion for reflections on the state of culture. A few money quotes: “This postmodern era is the Age of Irony. Irony implies detachment. Detachment is invaluable, up to a point. But when irony tyrannizes your thinking, you are in danger of being detached from everything—of being a barge adrift, with nothing to tug or push you forward. You are going... Read more

Holy One of Israel

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:43 pm By Peter Leithart

Alec Motyer ( The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction & Commentary ) observes that “Isaiah is the prophet of holiness. In the Isaianic literature the adjective ‘holy’ ( qadosh ) is used of God more frequently than in all the rest of the Old Testament taken together.” That’s intriguing in itself: Ezekiel would seem to be the most priestly of the major prophets, but Isaiah gives him a run for his money. In a footnote, Motyer tallies up the stats:... Read more

Nile and Red Sea

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:09 am By Peter Leithart

When Moses turned the Nile to blood, the fish died and a stench arose (Exodus 7:18, 21). Nothing is said about fish or putrid smells in the account of Exodus in the Pentateuch. When Isaiah recounts the exodus, however, he talks about the dying stinking fish: “Behold, I dry up the sea with My rebuke, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst” (Isaiah 50:2). Isaiah has conflated the first plague with the exodus... Read more

Deification

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:53 pm By Peter Leithart

Some thoughts arising from a conversation with Toby Sumpter, Doug Jones and Gabe Telling. Moses is the first human god ( elohim ) in Scripture, the first man to grow up to the fuller image of Yahweh. He is god in relation to his mouth, his brother Aaron (Exodus 4:16) and also to Pharaoh (7:1). Elohim implies power, and Moses is going to be god to Pharaoh throughout the plague sequence, using the rod of Yahweh to destroy Egypt.... Read more

War

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:50 pm By Peter Leithart

In his best-selling WAR , Vanity Fair ‘s Sebastian Junger explains how war envelops the soldiers who make it. Some representative quotations: “Almost none of the things that make life feel worth living back home are present at Restrepo, so the entire range of a young man’s self-worth has to be found within the ragged choreography of a firefight. The men talk about it and dream about it and rehearse for it and analyze it afterward . . . .... Read more

Gnostic “religion”

Last updated on: August 5, 2010 at 10:17 am By Peter Leithart

As William Cavanaugh details ( The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict ), the concept of religion is an invention of the late medieval and early modern West. In the theory of religion as developed by Deists and Freethinkers, there was an original, generic, universal religion distinct from the dogmatic and liturgical particulars of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, etc. Particular dogmas and liturgical forms, concocted by priests, corrupted the original purity of religion and produced... Read more

Gnostic “religion”

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:42 pm By Peter Leithart

Formed sin

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:42 pm By Peter Leithart

In his classic Patterns in Comparative Religion , Mircea Eliade notes the doubleness of water symbolism across religions. The natural properties of water provide the basis for the view that water is both deadly dangerous and life-giving: “In whatever religious framework it appears, the function of water is shown to be the same; it disintegrates, abolishes forms, ‘washes away sins’ – at once purifying and giving new life.” “Abolishing form” and “washing away sins” – it’s an arresting juxtaposition. Sin... Read more