Gary A. Anderson

Leon Kass, best known for his work in the field of bioethics, including his service on President Bush’s Council, has established himself also as a formidable interpreter of the Bible. In 2003, he published his commentary on the Book of Genesis, a volume that gathered accolades from many reviewers. . . . . Continue Reading »

The Ransom of the Soul: 
Afterlife and Wealth in Early Western Christianity
 by peter brown 
harvard, 288 pages, $24.95 In the opening pages of this book, Peter Brown declares that he will “compare two ages—the world of the early church in the late second and third centuries and the early . . . . Continue Reading »

Gratitude: An Intellectual History? by peter j. leithart? baylor, 350 pages, $49.95 Peter Leithart’s Gratitude: An Intellectual History is a creative, insightful, and ambitious book. It takes its point of departure from the voluminous literature on the subject of the gift. Though the topic has . . . . Continue Reading »

On Sacrifice by Moshe Halbertal Princeton, 152 pages, $24.95 Moshe Halbertal, a professor of Jewish thought at both New York and Hebrew Universities, writes books with very large theses. His first publication treated the theme of idolatry and a subsequent book the nature of the religious canon. His . . . . Continue Reading »

Nearly a decade ago Jerry Walls wrote an article for this magazine (“Purgatory for Everyone”) in which he encouraged his fellow Protestants to reconsider their aversion to the doctrine of purgatory. His argument turned on a simple question: “If salvation essentially involves . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Samuel: Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible by Francesca Aran Murphy Brazos, 336 pages, $34.99 He has never seen another field of study quite like it, says a political philosopher who follows biblical scholarship. The typical journal article offers a series of limitless speculations about . . . . Continue Reading »

The relationship of the Church to the social order has been long and vexed. At the forefront in the modern era has been the relationship of Church to state. After enjoying, for over a millennium, certain supervisory powers, the Church has abandoned any interest in possessing direct power over the state… . Continue Reading »

W.W. Norton, the publisher of R. Crumb’s best-selling The Book of Genesis Illustrated , was certainly aware of the reputation of the underground cartoonist”best known as the creator of the classic 1960s icons “Keep on Truckin’” and “Fritz the Cat””and . . . . Continue Reading »

The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus by Dale C. Allison Jr. Eerdmans, 126 pages, $16 Christians have had good reason to be suspicious of the quest for the historical Jesus. From the deists of the Enlightenment to modern-day writers such as Robert Funk, the movement has always had . . . . Continue Reading »

The Church’s Guide for ­Reading Paul: The Canonical Shaping of the Pauline Corpus by Brevard S. Childs Eerdmans, 288 pages, $28 paper When the history of biblical scholarship for the twentieth century is written, a prominent spot will be given to Brevard Childs. Trained in Europe, he . . . . Continue Reading »