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Writing

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Theologia

Reflections on the Importance of Predestination in the Christian Mindset

But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt…

by Mark HorneJune 4, 1998
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Biblical Horizons

The Case Against Western Civilization, Part 5

Part 5: Laying New Foundations in a Dying World As I mentioned above, the history of Israel involved several centuries as a church-without-a-culture, and then several centuries as a culture-without-a-city. To be sure, there was an informal culture around the church of the Patriarchs, but the civilization of free farmers…

by James B. JordanJune 4, 1998
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Baptism

Why Do We Baptize?

In the Reformation Tradition we baptize both professing believers and their children. In the case of infants it is now commonly insisted that this is done because the children are already in covenant with God. Baptism is a sign and seal of a previously existing reality. Despite the popularity of…

by Mark HorneJune 3, 1998
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Eucharist

This Is What We Are:

Concerning Sex & the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the loaf of bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one loaf, we who are many…

by Mark HorneJune 3, 1998
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Baptism

Sacramental Efficacy

Protestant-Catholic debates about the sacraments have usually taken the form of debates about sacramental efficacy. Protestants claim that Catholics believe that sacraments work ex opere operato, virtually a magical view of the sacraments. A priest goes through the motions and says the mumbo-jumbo and — presto! — the sacraments confer…

by Peter LeithartJune 3, 1998
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Baptism

Baptism and the Church

In 27.2, the Westminster Confession says that because of the “spiritual relation” between sacraments and the things they represent, “the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other.” Applied to baptism, this means that when the Bible says that we are baptized into Christ (Rom. 6), it…

by Peter LeithartMay 29, 1998

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Literature

Austen and Enlightenment

Michael Caines reviews Peter Knox-Shaw’s Jane Austen and the Enlightenment in the March 4 issue of the TLS . Caines provides a nice overview of the debates concerning Austen’s political views and alleged social conservatism before turning to Knox-Shaw’s particular contribution, who argues that Austen was a child of the…

March 20, 2005
History

Victor Davis Hanson

This post is currently missing due to a server crash. Perhaps in the future, Dr. Leithart will re-write it. — Admin.

March 19, 2005
Philosophy

Bulls***

I caught a few minutes of an interview with Harry Frankfurt on some late night TV show recently. In a venue dominated by stars, the appearance of an Ivy League philosopher was, shall we say, surprising. Less surprising, though, when it became clear that he was speaking on the topic…

March 19, 2005
Theology

Response to Mississippi Valley Report

My work is cited several times in the recent Mississippi Valley Presbytery Report on the New Perspective and the Federal Vision. Since that Report has been widely cited and discussed, I suppose some response is in order. I am not responding to all of the points where I am cited,…

March 18, 2005
Theology

More on Hart, The Beauty of the Infinite

Hart has previously discussed various postmodernism options for aesthetics, showing how postmodernism reduces to an ontology of violence or a discourse of the sublime. Now he turns to Nietzsche to ask whether he provides a possible future for thought. III. The Will to Power. Hart suggests that in Nietzsche, the…

March 17, 2005

Alter on Douglas

Robert Alter reviews Mary Douglas’s latest book, Jacob’s Tears: The Priestly Work of Reconciliation , in the March 3 issue of the London Review of Books . Douglas’s book deals with two main areas, the first historical and the second anthropological. Alter finds the first section unpersuasive; from his description,…

March 9, 2005

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