Peter J. Leithart

The idea of the separation of church and state “began, in fact, with Jesus”, the editor of Newsweek assures us in a May 3 editorial on a federal judge’s recent decision that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. You can probably fill in the rest of the argument … Continue Reading »

Virtually every detail of Matthew’s account takes us back to the beginning of his gospel story. In the end is the beginning, because in the beginning is the end. Two Marys come to the tomb on the first day of the week. One of them is Mary Magdalene, but the “other Mary” is the . . . . Continue Reading »

In a 1967 lecture on the “cruciform character of history,” Dartmouth professor Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy”the anniversary of whose death is today”observed … Continue Reading »

In light of the recent email scandal at the University of East Anglia, James Hoggan’s new book, Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming, is an amusing read. In the exposé, Hoggan, president of a public relations firm, details the dishonesty and chicanery of global warming skeptics… . Continue Reading »

What Gallio Didn’t Know
02.11.2010
Gary A. Anderson

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 »

For many evangelicals today, secular means something very close to godless. The termsecularization describes the impulse that drives the ACLU and other groups to expunge prayer from schools, to take down the Ten Commandments from courthouse walls, to pressure Christians to keep their beliefs private, to muzzle all religiously motivated efforts to curb abortion. And yet, some Christians and many historians and sociologists view secularization as the genius of public Christianity, especially public Protestantism… . Continue Reading »

Today’s militant atheists claim that religion, Christianity in particular, has corrupted “everything.” Believers don’t think Christianity is the source of the world’s evil, but we are haunted by the sense that Christianity hasn’t done all that much good either.Paul . . . . Continue Reading »

Over the centuries, Christians have fasted for many reasons. Sometimes the reasons have been good. The apostles and their churches fasted and prayed before selecting elders or ordaining missionaries. Christians have fasted in mourning for their sins. They have fasted and prayed to combat demons and . . . . Continue Reading »

Time was when Christian missions occurred “over there.” Every now and then, the missionary would show up at church dressed like a time traveler, to show slides of exotic places and to enchant the stay-at-homes with tales about the strange diet and customs of the natives. Foreign missions . . . . Continue Reading »

Only four years ago, the media were abuzz with the revelation that a fissure ran through America, dividing us into Republican red states and Democratic blue states, polarity as much cultural as political. Red states are NASCAR and barbecue, while blue states are NPR and brie. Red states are . . . . Continue Reading »

“Participatory” does a lot of work in Matthew Levering’s latest book, Participatory Biblical Exegesis , a contribution to the burgeoning contemporary interest in theological interpretation of Scripture. It refers, above all, to a conception of history that, Levering argues, should . . . . Continue Reading »