Indirect Subject

Last updated on: March 17, 2017 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Slavoj Zizek (Mythology, Madness, and Laughter) explains Hegel’s sublation of Kantian transcendentalism by noting that Hegel accepts Kant’s root insight, the “the subjective constitution of reality, the split that separates the subject from the in-itself.” Yet Hegel doesn’t stop with this acceptance: “this very split is transposed back into reality as its kenotic self-emptying (to use the Christian theological term, as Hegel does). Appearance is not reduced to reality, the very process of appearance is conceived from the standpoint of... Read more

Talking Trees

Last updated on: March 17, 2017 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Trees are slow, like Ents. The electrical impulses that pass through trees travel at a rate of one-third of an inch per second. Why do trees need electricity? According to Peter Wollheben (The Hidden Life of Trees), they need electricity to talk to each other. He’s not kidding: “trees need to communicate, and electrical impulses are just one of their many means of communication. Trees also use the senses of smell and taste for communication. If a giraffe starts eating... Read more

Odysseus and Dialectics of Environment

Last updated on: March 17, 2017 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Near the beginning of their Dialectic of Enlightenment, Max Horkheimer and Theodore Adorno “allegorize” on an episode in the Odyssey, in which Odysseus takes his ship past the Sirens who entice mariners toward the dangerous shoals of their island with their sweet singing. Odysseus wants to hear the Sirens but doesn’t want to wreck his ship. So he straps himself to the mast, puts wax in the ears of his men, and sails past the Sirens. Odysseus is confined but... Read more

Protestantism and Nature

Last updated on: March 17, 2017 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Lawrence Feingold doesn’t much like de Lubac’s work on the natural desire to see God. He doesn’t think the neo-Thomist distinction of natural and supernatural is responsible for the rise of atheism and naturalism. On the contrary, the distinction is necessary to combat naturalism. Feingold writes, “the Thomistic distinction between a natural and a supernatural end is essential to maintaining a dear distinction between the natural and the supernatural orders. An order is defined by its end. If there is... Read more

Architectural Justice

Last updated on: March 17, 2017 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

James Jordan has often called attention to Ezekiel 43:10-11, where the Lord explains the purpose of the elaborate temple vision that He has shown the prophet. When Israel hears the design and plans of the temple, its entrances and exits, it straight lines and its corners, they will “be ashamed of their iniquities.” Jordan argues that the temple represents an ideal society. Israel’s life together is supposed to mimic the lines and gates and entries of the temple. Israel is... Read more

Political Theology in Stone

Last updated on: March 16, 2017 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

Listening to architect Daniel Lee teach a Theopolis course this week, I had many moments of insight. Here are a couple of them. Daniel offered a brief but penetrating analysis of the structure and message of the Pantheon of Rome. A house for all the gods, it was church-in-the-round, a round table of deities. Foreign gods were added as new territories were conquered, and each of these gods got a place at the table. In tolerant Rome, all gods were... Read more

God the Underwriter

Last updated on: March 16, 2017 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

David’s ecstatic prayer in 1 Chronicles 29 – the last words he speaks in Chronicles – includes this notable verse: “Who am I and who are my people we we should have strength to volunteer offerings like this? For from you comes all, and from your hand we give to you” (v. 14). David refers to the vast outpouring of resources for the temple – thousands of talents of gold, silver, bronze, iron (vv. 6-8). That is the “voluntary gift”... Read more

Chiasm of Joy

Last updated on: March 15, 2017 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

David’s speech to the assembly of princes (1 Chronicles 29:1-9) has a roughly chiastic form. It begins with David’s review of his contributions to the temple and his declaration of his delight in God’s house. He sets an example by donating additional gold and silver and calls on the people to “fill their hands” by giving generously. The assembly donates huge amounts of metals and stones, then responds with stunned joy at their own generosity. The section ends with David... Read more

Sources of Inequality

Last updated on: March 14, 2017 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

In his recently-published The Great Leveller, Walter Scheidel summarizes evidence from archeology and anthropological studies to answer the question, Has inequality always been with us? The answer is: Sort of yes. Inequality is a constant in societies that farm and herd. But farming and land ownership weren’t the only way for early or tribal societies to amass wealth. Among Native Americans, the introduction of horses was a generator of inequality: “In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Comanche in the... Read more

Age of Silver

Last updated on: March 14, 2017 at 12:00 am By Peter Leithart

David’s plan for the temple is partly a floor plan. He gives Solomon the pattern for the “porch” and its associated buildings, treasuries, rooms, courts (1 Chronicles 28:11-12). The plan also includes instructions for organizing the priests and Levites (28:13a) and for the utensils of service for the temple (13b-18). In Exodus, the word tabnit is directly applied only to the tabernacle and its furnishings (25:9) and specifically the lampstand (25:40). In Chronicles, priests and Levites are more explicitly included... Read more