The Failure of Denominationalism and the Future of Christian UnityOne of the unforeseen results of the Reformation was the shattering fragmentation of the church. Protestant tribalism was and continues to be a major hindrance to any solution to Christian division and its cultural effects. In this book, influential thinker Peter Leithart critiques American denominationalism in the context of global and historic Christianity, calls for an end to Protestant tribalism,...

2022 Christianity Today Finalist, Church and Pastoral LeadershipThe heavenly city of God resurrects the cities of men. On Earth as in Heaven calls the church to embrace her identity and mission as one shaped by biblical theology and liturgy. The world grows increasingly polarized and politicized, but the church's commission remains unchanged. Christians carry out Jesus's mission by being the church. To ch...

"You've been baptized. But do you understand what it means? Baptism is the doorway into membership in the church. It's a public declaration of the washing away of our sin and the beginning of our new life in Christ. But the sacrament that is meant to unite us is often a spring of division instead. All Christians use water to baptize. All invoke the triune name. Beyond that, there's little consensus. Talk about baptism and you're immediately plunged into arguments. Whom should we baptize? W...

You know them. But do you understand them?The Ten Commandments have become so familiar to us that we don't think about what they actually mean. They've been used by Christians throughout history as the basis for worship, confessions, prayer, even civil law.Are these ancient words still relevant for us today? Their outward simplicity hides their inward complexity. Jesus himself sums up the entire law in a pair of commandments: Love God with all your heart, m...

This collection of essays continues a long and venerable debate in the history of the Christian church regarding the legacy of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. For some, Constantine's conversion to Christianity early in the fourth century set in motion a process that made the church subservient to the civil authority of the state, brought a definitive end to pacifism as a central teaching of the early church, and redefined the character of Christian catechesis and missions. In 2010...

In Delivered from the Elements of the World Peter Leithart reframes Anselm's question, "Why the God Man?" Instead he asks, "How can the death and resurrection of a Jewish rabbi of the first century . . . be the decisive event in the history of humanity, the hinge and crux and crossroads for everything?" With the question reframed for the wide screen, Leithart pursues the cultural and public settings and consequences of the cross and resurrection. He writes, "I ho...

Jane Austen is famous for such books as Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma. Now learn about the author’s journey through a life spent making up stories that touched the lives of millions.Jane Austen is now what she never was in life, and what she would have been horrified to become--a literary celebrity. “Janeia” is the author’s term for the mania for all things Austen. Dive into Jane Austen: A Literary Celebrity and discover:...

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon states that "all is vapor" and describes humans as trying to "shepherd the wind." In Solomon among the Postmoderns, author Peter J. Leithart uses these claims, as well as the entire book of Ecclesiastes, to show how Solomon resonated with postmodernism.Exploring the strengths and weaknesses of postmodernism, Leithart shows how the theory reflects an important biblical theme: the elusiveness and instability of the world. But he goes on to show that ...

The United States is one of history's great Christian nations, but our unique history, success, and global impact have seduced us into believing we are something more--God's New Israel, the new order of the ages, the last best hope of mankind, a redeemer nation. Using the subtle categories that arise from biblical narrative, Between Babel and Beast analyzes how the heresy of Americanism inspired America's rise to hegemony while blinding American Christians to our failures and abuses of pow...

Gratitude is often understood as etiquette rather than ethics, an emotion rather than politics. It was not always so. From Seneca to Shakespeare, gratitude was a public virtue. The circle of benefaction and return of service worked to make society strong. But at the beginning of the modern era, European thinkers began to imagine a political economy freed from the burdens of gratitude. Though this rethinking was part of a larger process of secularization, it was also a distorted byproduct o...

Over the past several decades, Reformed theologian and biblical scholar James B. Jordan has produced a unique body of work. His electrifying commentaries and essays on Scripture, along with his penetrating writings on Trinitarian theology, liturgics, music, and culture have inspired a growing number of pastors and theologians. In this Festschrift, Jordan's friends and associates celebrate his contributions by applying his methods and insights to a range of biblical, theological, liturgical...

What is the way of the cross? Why does it create resistance? How do we answer objections to it? The revival of interest in Christ's kingdom and radical discipleship has produced a wave of discussions, but sometimes those discussions are scattered. This book aims to pull together in one place the core claims of the way of the cross. It aims to examine the deeply cherished assumptions that hinder us from hearing Jesus's call. When we do that, we'll see that the gospel of Christ is not primar...