Kings and Priests
Uche Anizor writes to thank me for my review of his recent Kings and Priests , and to correct some misstatements.
First, I complained in my review that he didn’t give attention to the role of the pastor as lead priest-king-reader in a community of readers. In fact., he does. While emphasizing the Reformation notion of priesthood of believers in his chapter on Luther, he does not that Luther makes a distinction between private and public ministry of the Word. Some are authorized with the official duty of teaching the word of God to the congregation (155-6).
Second, I raised the question of what reading meant to ancient people who relied on oral rather than written communications. Anizor gives attention to precisely this question in a section on orality and reading late in the book (229-34).
My apologies to Prof. Anizor for the sloppiness of my review.
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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