Best Selling Books by Peter J. Leithart

Jane Austen''s novels are not only still widely read, but they also continue to influence modern film and literature. In both their moral content and their focused, highly detailed, miniaturist execution, they reveal Austen''s master of the art of fiction and her concern for Christian virtues exercised within communities. Her sharp wit and sense of irony entertain, edify, and challenge both men and women alike. From theological and literary angles, Leithart unpacks both character and theme while summarizing each of Austen''s major works. For all who desire a richer appreciation of her enduring genius, Leithart offers a hearthside seat.

The Federal Vision communicates the importance of applying a more robust Covenant theology to our study of the relationship between obedience and faith, and to the role of the Church and Sacraments in our salvation.

For many Christians, Revelation is the most difficult book of the Bible, with its strange symbols, confusing narrative, and an association with fringe interpretations. But in this accessible introduction, biblical scholar Peter J. Leithart cuts through the confusion and shows how the book of Revelation falls into place when we recognize it as a narrative about Jesus and the early church and understand that its imagery is deeply biblical. Leithart offers five rules to help readers interpret Revelation with confidence: · Revelation is a book of the Bible. · Revelation shares the same concerns as the rest of the New Testament. · The symbols of Revelation refer to real people and events. · Get the date right. · Revelation tells a connected story. With these five concepts as your compass, Leithart shows you how to read and understand what he calls "the most biblical book of the Bible."

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 of an impulse ultimately rooted in the teachings of Jesus and the apostle Paul. Christians believed that God stood at the center of the circle of gratitude. God was the object of thanksgiving and God gave graciously. Thus, Christians taught that grace cancelled the oppressive debts of a purely political gratitude. Gratitude: An Intellectual History examines changing conceptions of gratitude from Homer to the present. In so doing, Peter J. Leithart highlights the profound cultural impact of early Christian "ingratitude," the release of humankind from the bonds of social and political reciprocity by a benevolent God who gave--and who continues to give--graciously.

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? What does baptism do? Why even do it at all? Peter Leithart reunifies a church divided by baptism. He recovers the baptismal imagination of the Bible, explaining how baptism works according to Scripture. Then, in conversation with Christian tradition, he shows why baptism is something worth recovering and worth agreeing on.

In the second volume of his commentary on the gospel of Matthew, Peter Leithart presents a close study of Matthew 13 through 28, underscoring Jesus'' formation of a counter-kingdom that also retells the story of Israel. Jesus is the true Israel who takes on the roles of various Old Testament leaders: Moses the law-giver, Joshua the conqueror, Solomon the philosopher-king, Elisha the wonder-working prophet leading a company of prophets, as well as Jeremiah and Ezekiel warning of the temple''s imminent destruction. Jesus'' interactions with the leaders of Israel recapitulate Yahweh''s tortured interactions with Israel in the Old Testament. In spite of Israel''s repeated rejections, Yahweh never gave up on His beloved. His love is stronger than death, and He returns as the world-emperor to send His new Israel to disciple the nations.

Worship isn''t a retreat from the political and cultural clashes of our time or preparation for culture-transforming work. Culture is transformed in church liturgy. By working out a biblical theology of worship, Peter J. Leithart shows how the church''s liturgy Christianizes culture, moving creation toward its consummation in the new creation.