American priestcraft

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:46 pm By Peter Leithart

Was the American Revolution inspired by the Enlightenment? Or was it an evangelical Presbyterian rebellion? One way to get at that would be to examine the rhetoric concerning “priestcraft” in the American revolution. More than forty years ago, Carl Bridenbaugh pointed to the importance of debates about Anglicanism in the American revolution, and perhaps examining those debates could reveal how much the American revolutionaries were indebted to Enlightenment anti-clericalism. One also notes the anti-priestly rhetoric and impulse that lies behind... Read more

Early Bobos

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

Already in 1976, Daniel Bell noticed the cultural contradiction similar to what David Brooks has labeled the “Bobo” phenomenon: Americans aspire to be a “Puritan by day and a playboy by night.” I suppose the main difference between Bell’s cultural contradiction is that the Bobo wants to be a playboy by day too, so long as he can do so without interfering with the bottom line. Read more

Jesus on the sea

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

OK, let me try this again. Land is Israel, sea is Gentiles. A boat is a bit of land floating on the sea, and a boat with Jesus in it is a perfect picture of the little flock of disciples that constitutes Jesus’ first church. It’s a bit of Israel floating unsteadily in the sea of nations. From the boat, Jesus tells parables that reveal the mystery of the kingdom. But His place and posture also reveal mysteries. The boat... Read more

Eucharistic meditation, Sunday After Ascension

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:39 pm By Peter Leithart

Matthew 13:11: to you [it is given] to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. In the early church, one of the most common terms for the sacraments was “mystery.” One (Theodore of Mopsuestia) wrote “Every mystery is a manifestation by signs and symbols of invisible and ineffable realities.” “Happy mystery of our water, because the sins of our former blindness are washed away and we are freed for everlasting life!” began Tertullian’s treatise concerning baptism. (more…) Read more

Mysteries of the Kingdom

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

“To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus tells His disciples (Matthew 13:11). What mysteries? A clue from the OT: The only place where the word “mystery” is used in the canonical books of the LXX is Daniel 2, where it is used 8x. And Daniel 2 also talks about a “kingdom” set up by the “God of heaven.” This combination of terms is found only here in the LXX. Where does... Read more

Root of David

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

Jesus is described twice in Revelation as the “root of David” (5:5; 22:16). “Son of David” or “Seed of David” makes sense; Jesus comes from the Davidic line. But Jesus is not only the fruit, but the root of the Davidic house. He is the original Anointed One before who David stood, the Lord to whom Yahweh promised a seat at His right hand. Read more

Jesus and the Sea

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

In a 1984 JBL article, Elizabeth Struthers Malbon suggested that the boat in Mark’s gospel represents a “mediator” between sea and land, and pointed out that Jesus treats the sea as if it were land (walking on it, showing no concern for the unsteadiness of the waves, etc.). If we link this to the OT symbolism of sea=Gentiles and land=Israel, we can see the indications of the Pauline theme that Jesus combines Jew and Gentile into one new man. And,... Read more

Proverbs 21

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

PROVERBS 21:20 The verse could be translated, more woodenly, as “Stores desired and oil in the habitation of the wise; but the foolish Adam swallows it.” The verse contrasts the conduct of the wise and of the foolish, and the basic contrast is between the wise man who has things stored in his house and the fool who does not. “Stores” can refer to anything that has been gathered up and saved, and especially refers to stores of gold, silver,... Read more

Priestcraft

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:04 am By Peter Leithart

Well, a bit of looking pays off. One Justin Champion has written a study of priestcraft in early Enlightenment England, The Pillars of Priestcraft Shaken (Cambridge 1992), which is available in its entirety online at: http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/catalogue/viewcat.php?id=OTHE00029. Chapter 5 begins with a paragraph that links the attacks on priestcraft with the development of “natural religion (which in turn links up with Peter Harrison’s book on the concept of “religion” in the English Enlightenment, also published by Cambridge). Champion writes: (more…) Read more

Priestcraft

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:04 am By Peter Leithart

Writing of Spinoza, Jonathan Israel ( Radical Enlightenment ) notes that Spinoza outlines “the concept of priestcraft as a system of organized imposture and deception, rooted in credulousness and superstitution, which loomed so large in the subsequent history of the Enlightenment and was to receive massive amplification in the books on ancient oracles and priestcraft published by Blount, Van Dale, and Fontenelle in the 1680s.” Perhaps it’s out there, but if not, someone needs to do a thorough study of... Read more