Temple and church

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:56 pm By Peter Leithart

Hamblin and Seely also describe in some detail the impact of Solomon’s temple on Christian architecture. Eusbius describes the consecration of a church in Tyre that picks up on multiple temple-related themes: “The bishop-builder is compared with Bezalel, Solomon, and Zerubbabel, builders of the Israelite Tabernacle and Temple . . . . Like Solomon’s temple, the new church-temple is built following the ‘patterns and archetypes’ of the Celestial Temple, using the ‘heavenly types in symbolic fashion’ . . . In... Read more

Synagogue and temple

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:56 pm By Peter Leithart

In their fascinating and richly illustrated Solomon’s Temple: Myth and History , William Hamblin and David Seely take note of the architectural continuities between temple and synagogue: “Many elements of the architecture and visual imagery of the synagogue were intended to remind the people of the Temple. Rabbinic writings suggest that the doors of the synagogue should face east, and that synagogues should be built on high hills like the Temple . . . . (more…) Read more

Musico-theological speculation

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

In his book, Wiser than Despair , Quentin Faulkner traces the links between musical theory (musical speculation) and theological speculation. John Scotus Erigena’s views, for instance, were summarized by his pupil Regino of Prum, who wrote on music in a treatise on harmony, and the treatise has theological overtones throughout (not entirely biblical, some deriving from Plotinus). (more…) Read more

Bible and world

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:47 pm By Peter Leithart

Robert Wilken emphasizes the biblically-centered character of early Christian preaching and thought: “Not only in sermons but also in theological works, in letters, and in spiritual writings the church fathers display an enviable verbal command of large sections of the Bible. In contrast to modern theological writings in which the Bible is cited in support of theological ideas, and hence usually relegated to the footnotes, in the early church the words of the Bible were the linguistic skeleton for the... Read more

Whatever happened to the Trinity?

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:48 pm By Peter Leithart

What happened to Trinitarian theology between the Reformation and the eighteenth century. The closest thing I’ve found to an answer is Philip Dixon’s Nice and Hot Disputes, which summarizes some of the developments in seventeenth-century England. Here are some of his main points. 1) Because of Socinianism, Trinitarian theologians were put on the defensive. Through the Racovian Catechism (1605) and other writings, the Socinian denial of the deity of Christ spread from Poland to the rest of Europe. The catechism... Read more

Vestigia trinitatis

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

In an article on vestigia trinitatis in early modern thought, Dennis Klinck notes that the early 17th century saw a flowering of Trinitarian theology in England. Theologians, poets, and others saw the Trinity reflected in political life, human psychology, every sphere of knowledge. They agreed fully with the Augustinian doctrine of the “vestigia trinitatis, and elaborated it at length. (more…) Read more

Donne on the Trinity

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

In stanza 4 of Donne’s “Litanie,” he addresses the Trinity: O Blessed glorious Trinity, Bones to Philosophy, but milke to faith, Which, as wise serpents, diversly Most slipperinesse, yet most entanglings hath, As you distinguish’d undistinct By power, love, knowledge bee, Give mee a such selfe different instinct Of these; let all mee elemented bee, Of power, to love, to know, you unnumbred three. Equally vivid, Sonnet XVI refers, with reference to the eternal Son, to “his joynture in the... Read more

Intention and action

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:44 pm By Peter Leithart

In his summary of “identity description,” which he ultimately applies to Jesus, Hans Frei speaks of “the irreversible passage or movement from . . . intention to action. The enactment of intention always differs from the intention to enact; and each person has inside knowledge of how he passes from one state of affairs to the other directly and without a break. Our identity is constituted by the enactment of central and, in that sense, characterizing intentions, but it is... Read more

Jane’s tough world

Last updated on: August 20, 2007 at 7:03 pm By Peter Leithart

In early August, Lev Grossman wrote a piece for Time on the continuing apotheosis of Jane Austen: “It was a cliché 10 years ago to say that the Austen phenomenon was big. It has now burst completely out of its bodice. Jane Austen, who recorded the last gorgeous gasp of pre-industrial England, has herself become a thriving, throbbing industry. Pride & Prejudice alone sold 318,000 copies last year, according to Nielsen BookScan, and this is to say nothing of the... Read more

Jane’s tough world

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