Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The chronology of the Kings of Judah and Israel can be divided into three periods with clearly defined boundaries. The first period begins with the death of Solomon and the accessions of Rehoboam in the south (Judah) and Jeroboam in the north (Israel). It ends with the deaths of Ahaziah…
Most modern people regard the arts as essentially decorative. They are hardly very important, as compared to business, politics, or religion. Yet, from a Biblical point of view, the arts lie close to the heart of human life. The universe that God created is itself an artistic masterpiece by the…
Before we move into a detailed survey of the history and chronology of the kings of Israel and Judah, let us review the chronological information that leads from creation to the kingdom. This will be helpful both to new readers of these essays, and a reminder for those who have…
We have completed our overall survey of Biblical chronology, and now turn to a detailed examination of the Biblical information regarding the chronology of Israel’s kings. The first piece of chronological information we have regarding Israel’s kings is very cryptic, and it serves as an guide to the interpretation of…
Jonathan Z. Smith, To Take Place: Toward Theory in Ritual (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987). Reviewed by Peter J. Leithart. The philosophes of the 18th century often attacked Christendom using the tools of anthropology and comparative religion. Rousseau contrasted the idyllic equality of primitive, natural peoples with the bondage…
Valerie I. J. Flint, The Rise of Magic in Early Medieval Europe (Princeton University Press, 1991). Reviewed by Peter J. Leithart. Valerie I. J. Flint, Professor of History at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, is refreshingly candid about her reasons for undertaking a study of The Rise of Magic…
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Since Mauss re-discovered the truism that there ain’t no such thing as a free gift, philosophers and theologians have fretted over the broken promise of the “pure gift” - a no-strings gift, a gift without expectation of return. It’s a Kantian deformation of an evangelical hope; but it’s bound to…
When the original creation is set up, there are three zones in the material creation: heaven, earth, and sea. Corresponding to this threefold classification are the three zones on the land: garden, land, world. These are already mapped in the creation before sin, and especially after the fall they are…
To punish Israel’s sins, Yahweh threatens to remove “the whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water” (Isaiah 3:1). It sounds like a drought and famine, but as the passage goes on, the drought is a drought of leadership. Yahweh will remove bread and water insofar as he…
In the NYTBR , the redoubtable Tom Shone reviews a couple of recent books that explore the borderlands between movies and live. Shone points out the paradox that all movie-lovers experience. We can’t live the movies. “A life lived at a constant pitch of screwball comedy is a recipe for…
Alec Wilkinson’s New Yorker profile of mathematician Yitang Zhang is a fascinating character sketch and an introduction to the world of pure mathematics. Along the way, Wilkinson lists some of the wonders and mysteries of prime numbers: “No formula predicts the occurrence of primes—they behave as if they appear randomly.…
Many things contribute to the fidgety discomfort one feels one reading Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice . There’s our entry into the mind of Gustav Aschenbach, an aging, highly sensitive, very famous writer. There’s the Lolita infatuation he has with Tadzio, a “beautiful” Polish boy whom Aschenbach watches from his…
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