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Theopolis Fundamentals #3
Theopolitan Reading
Peter Leithart shows in Theopolitan Reading that the whole Bible grows from seeds planted in the early chapters of Genesis. The events of Scripture take place in the three-story world created in Genesis 1. Adam is in the background of all the men of the Bible, and Eve in the background of all the women. The Scriptures are a story of Eden lost, regained, and glorified into a heavenly city. All the themes of Genesis come to their climax in Jesus, the Last Adam who delivers His new Eve, the church, so that together they can transform the wild waste of the world into an image of the new Jerusalem. Theopolitan Reading doesn't lay out detailed rules for reading. Rules are of limited use. To be good readers, we need mentors who model good reading. Leithart serves as a mentor and invites readers to imitate him as he imitates Christ Jesus. The Theopolis Fundamentals Series introduces the Biblical Horizons / Theopolis outlook and agenda to a new generation. The early volumes of the series summarize our convictions about biblical interpretation, liturgical theology and practice, and the church's cultural and political mission. The Fundamentals will be followed by a collection of Theopolis Explorations volumes that will examine Scripture, liturgy, and culture in more depth and detail.
138 pages, Paperback
Published July 13, 2020
19 people are currently reading
126 people want to read
About the author
Peter J. Leithart
130 books364 followersPeter Leithart received an A.B. in English and History from Hillsdale College in 1981, and a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Theology from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia in 1986 and 1987. In 1998 he received his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge in England. He has served in two pastorates: He was pastor of Reformed Heritage Presbyterian Church (now Trinity Presbyterian Church), Birmingham, Alabama from 1989 to 1995, and was founding pastor of Trinity Reformed Church, Moscow, Idaho, and served on the pastoral staff at Trinity from 2003-2013. From 1998 to 2013 he taught theology and literature at New St. Andrews College, Moscow, Idaho, where he continues to teach as an adjunct Senior Fellow. He now serves as President of Trinity House in Alabama, where is also resident Church Teacher at the local CREC church. He and his wife, Noel, have ten children and five grandchildren.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
November 8, 2023
What does the passage say?
What does the passage say about Jesus?
What does the passage say about me in Jesus?
What does the passage say about my future in Jesus?
Therefore we proclaim the faith: Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.
What does the passage say about Jesus?
What does the passage say about me in Jesus?
What does the passage say about my future in Jesus?
Therefore we proclaim the faith: Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.
January 26, 2022
A gem of a book.
February 27, 2024
Theopolitan Reading is Peter Leithart's very successful attempt to describe and demonstrate the way "Theopolitans", that is to say those following the work of James Jordan. This is a short, masterful work of biblical theology and hermeneutics.
Leithart offers five simple chapters as an outline of how the Bible ought to be read--for it is the way it is written. God has left a key for readers in Genesis through the "World", "Adam", "Eve", and "Eden." Properly understanding how these types and antitypes are then expanded upon throughout the rest of Scripture add layers of meaning and understanding.
I've read most of Jordan's works and many of Leithart's and still found this really helpful. Highly recommended!
Leithart offers five simple chapters as an outline of how the Bible ought to be read--for it is the way it is written. God has left a key for readers in Genesis through the "World", "Adam", "Eve", and "Eden." Properly understanding how these types and antitypes are then expanded upon throughout the rest of Scripture add layers of meaning and understanding.
I've read most of Jordan's works and many of Leithart's and still found this really helpful. Highly recommended!
August 9, 2025
Exquisite reading. Leithart works through the idea of how to read the Bible biblically! To remember that there are patterns, echoes, repetitions everywhere! There is such a thing as spiritual reading, for this we need guides, mentors, we need to walk in obedience, we need worship that is drenched in Bible, we need the bread and the wine, we need Jesus, the last Adam, the restorer of Eden! Read this Christian.
March 29, 2021
A interpretação "teopolitana" é uma alternativa interessantíssima para quem deseja a recuperação da leitura/exegese que se atenta para padrões, símbolos e imagens nos livros bíblicos. Mais que simples repristinação das alegorias patrísticas (mas de certo modo partindo delas), a forma de leitura que Leithart nos apresenta neste livreto é, sem dúvida, um dos métodos mais ricos e promissores da hermenêutica cristã contemporânea.
February 20, 2024
An excellent introduction to hermeneutics. Most hermeneutics classes should have this as week 1 introduction reading. It is a shorter and clearer version of "Through New Eyes." I will probably start recommending this before Through New Eyes from now on.
Almost nothing bothers me about Leithart except for his "we don't quite fit anywhere" (pg xv) mentality—good grief. This comes out again in the introduction. What frustrates me is the underlying claim that they have taken the good from every hermeneutical tradition but don't stand with any of them. The claim is that the other traditions in the church come up just quite short of getting it right. He does the same thing in "End of Protestantism"
Almost nothing bothers me about Leithart except for his "we don't quite fit anywhere" (pg xv) mentality—good grief. This comes out again in the introduction. What frustrates me is the underlying claim that they have taken the good from every hermeneutical tradition but don't stand with any of them. The claim is that the other traditions in the church come up just quite short of getting it right. He does the same thing in "End of Protestantism"
October 3, 2025
Leithart has started me on a journey, no doubt.
This book has tremendously impacted how I approach the Scriptures, centering on the clear and vivid symbolism surrounding Adam, Eve, and Eden. Jesus, the Church, and the Kingdom being the gospel-fulfillment of each, respectively. Leithart doesn't waste a word in his writing approach, and this little book has stirred my heart to a new appreciation and wonder at God's glorious Scriptures. To God be the glory.
This book has tremendously impacted how I approach the Scriptures, centering on the clear and vivid symbolism surrounding Adam, Eve, and Eden. Jesus, the Church, and the Kingdom being the gospel-fulfillment of each, respectively. Leithart doesn't waste a word in his writing approach, and this little book has stirred my heart to a new appreciation and wonder at God's glorious Scriptures. To God be the glory.
September 7, 2021
This is a great primer on how to read the Bible. It has all the pieces you need to get started on a great journey of reading the scriptures. It's a great companion to James Jordan's Through New Eyes.
January 30, 2025
For the past few years, I’ve found the Scripture very dull. This book helped me to see clearly again that there is always something new to explore. Just when I think I know enough, I’ve been shown I know nothing. Great read!
September 29, 2025
While I didn’t agree with everything in this book, there’s lots I admire about Leithart’s hermeneutics as an “art not a science” approach. He leaves the reader with a surplus of really interesting hermeneutical/typological propositions to go away and reflect on.
January 16, 2022
A fantastic introduction to reading scripture.
March 14, 2023
The books in this series are really good! Leithart does a great job of pulling out themes from Scripture and applying them in a hopeful, vision-casting sense to the world around us.
He encourages us to read the Bible the way God wrote it. Everything starts in the Garden. Use the hermeneutical principles God has given us from the beginning of Genesis and allow those tools to begin forming our understanding of His story. Trace the themes of Adam. Who was the first? the second? the third? the Last? Trace the themes of Eve. Who or what is she a picture of? Where do we find her fulfillment? Is there any correlation between Adam's "bride" being extracted from his side and Christ's side being torn open, pouring forth water and blood on the cross? Does this have meaning, or did the Holy Spirit include these details in the Text for no reason?
Leithart exhorts Christians to know their Bible as well as, or, preferably, far better than, we know pop culture. It's a shame that we can tell you what makes a Western or a thriller but are incapable of letting you know how many fox tails Samson set on fire or other similar details from Scripture. We ought to be people of the Book, not of the world.
If you want to begin seeing the beauty of God's design and how He has integrated themes like death and resurrection and temple imagery into all of creation, check out this book. It will give you a good start as to what to start paying attention to in the Text to begin forming a thoroughly biblical view of the world.
The cosmos is reflected in the temple. Study temple imagery, and you'll understand how God created the world to be.
"When our senses are trained by Scripture, we'll see graveyards as wombs, rubble as material for a new temple, and dry bones as a future army."
He encourages us to read the Bible the way God wrote it. Everything starts in the Garden. Use the hermeneutical principles God has given us from the beginning of Genesis and allow those tools to begin forming our understanding of His story. Trace the themes of Adam. Who was the first? the second? the third? the Last? Trace the themes of Eve. Who or what is she a picture of? Where do we find her fulfillment? Is there any correlation between Adam's "bride" being extracted from his side and Christ's side being torn open, pouring forth water and blood on the cross? Does this have meaning, or did the Holy Spirit include these details in the Text for no reason?
Leithart exhorts Christians to know their Bible as well as, or, preferably, far better than, we know pop culture. It's a shame that we can tell you what makes a Western or a thriller but are incapable of letting you know how many fox tails Samson set on fire or other similar details from Scripture. We ought to be people of the Book, not of the world.
If you want to begin seeing the beauty of God's design and how He has integrated themes like death and resurrection and temple imagery into all of creation, check out this book. It will give you a good start as to what to start paying attention to in the Text to begin forming a thoroughly biblical view of the world.
The cosmos is reflected in the temple. Study temple imagery, and you'll understand how God created the world to be.
"When our senses are trained by Scripture, we'll see graveyards as wombs, rubble as material for a new temple, and dry bones as a future army."
August 22, 2021
Another strong offering in the Theopolitan Fundamentals series. I have read many of the books in this book's bibliography so the content isn't new to me, but still I enjoyed it as a topical summary of how to read Scriptures. I always have time for concise, practical essays from a favorite author such as Leithart.
May 5, 2022
Hermeneutics is an interest of mine, and this may be the best work on the subject I’ve ever read. Other books teach you how to put your mind on the Bible; this book teaches you how to lay the Bible on your mind, and soul, and hands.
This may be the most mature reflection on Scripture I’ve ever read, as well as the simplest. Well done.
This may be the most mature reflection on Scripture I’ve ever read, as well as the simplest. Well done.
December 5, 2022
Great introductory book on reading your Bible better and according to its own standards.
September 16, 2023
Although perhaps not as brisk of a read as the first entry in this series, this was certainly one of the most fascinating looks at scripture I’ve read.
Want to read
September 15, 2020Chapter titles include "Spiritual Reading," "World," "Adam," "Eve," and "Eden." I will give you one guess as to whether or not there's a chiasmus in here.
September 14, 2021
Great overview showing how all of Scripture is an echo of Eden and a movement to a better Eden secured by Christ.
January 16, 2021
A whirlwind introduction to a 'theopolitan' way of reading the bible.
Following a 'to the reader' and intro chapter laying out some basic principles of theopolitan reading, and of how reading works more generally, Leithart takes Genesis 1-3 and shows how they provide the shape of the biblical story, the 'genesis' of so many ideas developed in scripture. He shows how to read these chapters, and how to read the whole Bible in light of them. There are chapters on 'world', 'Adam', 'Eve' and 'Eden'.
There was lots I loved about this book.
Leithart wants readers to seek 'to understand everything the text communicates', and suggests that that is done only by paying attention to the poetry of a text and the music of a text. We must recognise that how the text says what it says is in fact part of what it says - the poetry of a text. And We must listen for the connections, resonances, overtones, echoes of texts in order to understand them rightly - the music of a text. These concepts of the poetry and the music of a text have already borne fruit in my reading of the bible.
Secondly, Leithart has little time for those for whom 'interpretation is no more than paraphrase', and those for whom interpretation is more of a science than an art, and demonstrates why such a perspective misses out on much of the beauty and meaning of the bible. And I think these are very helpful correctives for Conservative evangelicals like myself, who can easily tend in that direction.
Thirdly, even though I disagreed with some specifics of his interpretation of the bible, there were several moments where whole new worlds of understanding felt like they were opening up because of the connections Leithart was making.
Fourthly, he helpfully defines typology. Leithart makes it clear that it is not merely searching for anything that looks a bit like Jesus in the old testament. Instead, he says it is a 'Theology of history', a way of recognising that 'God has habits'. Typology takes seriously the fact that the God who is Lord of history has imbued scripture with rhythm, with patterns, right from creation, and seeks to see those throughout the Bible. They do indeed point to, and culminate in Christ, but we miss much if we don't look backwards as well as forwards, like for example seeing how Noah is an improved Adam, as well as pointing to Christ.
Fifthly, his discussion of how the fruit of the Spirit should change the way we read is illuminating and challenging. He suggests that spiritual reading is reading that not only develops the fruit of the Spirit in us, but is reading which is filled with the fruit of the Spirit eg spiritual reading is patient reading. This has given me a lot to chew on as to how my reading matches up.
Finally, there is a real sense in reading Leithart that he desperately wants to let the bible determine how he reads the bible. He wants to let the patterns and symbols of scripture determine how he makes sense of it. That seems to me very admirable and wise.
A couple of caveats to finish, which are my reason for only 4 stars.
I would have liked to see him address the question of where the limits of this particular kind of interpretation are. How do we know if a connection is wrong? How do we know if we are making too much of something? What stops us from falling off the edge of good reading into error? I suspect his answer would include pointing to his discussion of mentor readers - good readers of the bible who help us to learn, but I feel that more could have been said in answer to these concerns, particularly to help persuade the unpersuaded. Perhaps something about the use of creeds and confessions could have been helpful.
Also, there were some odd interpretations with little or no justification given e.g. that Adam and Eve would have been able eventually to eat of the tree of good and evil in the garden once they had matured and proven their obedience. No defence was given, and the idea was conveyed as if it was standard and obvious. It would have been helpful to have his reasoning here, so that I could actually assess it, rather than just thinking that it sounds very odd and speculative. There were a few other similar examples. This book should therefore be read not with blind acceptance, but with careful consideration of its ideas and suggestions (although that is really the case for any book), checking his ideas against scripture itself (which is something I am sure he would approve of)
But overall, this made the bible feel like a whole new world again, with so many wonderful things to discover.
Following a 'to the reader' and intro chapter laying out some basic principles of theopolitan reading, and of how reading works more generally, Leithart takes Genesis 1-3 and shows how they provide the shape of the biblical story, the 'genesis' of so many ideas developed in scripture. He shows how to read these chapters, and how to read the whole Bible in light of them. There are chapters on 'world', 'Adam', 'Eve' and 'Eden'.
There was lots I loved about this book.
Leithart wants readers to seek 'to understand everything the text communicates', and suggests that that is done only by paying attention to the poetry of a text and the music of a text. We must recognise that how the text says what it says is in fact part of what it says - the poetry of a text. And We must listen for the connections, resonances, overtones, echoes of texts in order to understand them rightly - the music of a text. These concepts of the poetry and the music of a text have already borne fruit in my reading of the bible.
Secondly, Leithart has little time for those for whom 'interpretation is no more than paraphrase', and those for whom interpretation is more of a science than an art, and demonstrates why such a perspective misses out on much of the beauty and meaning of the bible. And I think these are very helpful correctives for Conservative evangelicals like myself, who can easily tend in that direction.
Thirdly, even though I disagreed with some specifics of his interpretation of the bible, there were several moments where whole new worlds of understanding felt like they were opening up because of the connections Leithart was making.
Fourthly, he helpfully defines typology. Leithart makes it clear that it is not merely searching for anything that looks a bit like Jesus in the old testament. Instead, he says it is a 'Theology of history', a way of recognising that 'God has habits'. Typology takes seriously the fact that the God who is Lord of history has imbued scripture with rhythm, with patterns, right from creation, and seeks to see those throughout the Bible. They do indeed point to, and culminate in Christ, but we miss much if we don't look backwards as well as forwards, like for example seeing how Noah is an improved Adam, as well as pointing to Christ.
Fifthly, his discussion of how the fruit of the Spirit should change the way we read is illuminating and challenging. He suggests that spiritual reading is reading that not only develops the fruit of the Spirit in us, but is reading which is filled with the fruit of the Spirit eg spiritual reading is patient reading. This has given me a lot to chew on as to how my reading matches up.
Finally, there is a real sense in reading Leithart that he desperately wants to let the bible determine how he reads the bible. He wants to let the patterns and symbols of scripture determine how he makes sense of it. That seems to me very admirable and wise.
A couple of caveats to finish, which are my reason for only 4 stars.
I would have liked to see him address the question of where the limits of this particular kind of interpretation are. How do we know if a connection is wrong? How do we know if we are making too much of something? What stops us from falling off the edge of good reading into error? I suspect his answer would include pointing to his discussion of mentor readers - good readers of the bible who help us to learn, but I feel that more could have been said in answer to these concerns, particularly to help persuade the unpersuaded. Perhaps something about the use of creeds and confessions could have been helpful.
Also, there were some odd interpretations with little or no justification given e.g. that Adam and Eve would have been able eventually to eat of the tree of good and evil in the garden once they had matured and proven their obedience. No defence was given, and the idea was conveyed as if it was standard and obvious. It would have been helpful to have his reasoning here, so that I could actually assess it, rather than just thinking that it sounds very odd and speculative. There were a few other similar examples. This book should therefore be read not with blind acceptance, but with careful consideration of its ideas and suggestions (although that is really the case for any book), checking his ideas against scripture itself (which is something I am sure he would approve of)
But overall, this made the bible feel like a whole new world again, with so many wonderful things to discover.
November 26, 2020
Recovering spiritual reading as the true core of biblical hermeneutics.
Theopolitan reading is a small book, almost a booklet, but it has a punch strong enough to destroy massive books that seek to teach a specific modern hermeneutical method like a science instead of an art.
The reality of biblical interpretation is that we need to learn to read and understand a book inspired by a God who speaks human. That kind of reading is not a science, it is more like a spiritual art. We need to understand how God communicates his revealed Word and we need to train our senses to identify the patterns that are set from the very beginning in the creation that work as the framework for the whole canon of the Bible.
Nothing of this is achievable if we are approaching the Bible as if it is not an inspired God-breathed book, that requires a reader able to see by the Spirit what other readers can’t. The Bible is inspired by God the Holy Spirit, and it also requires spiritual readers well trained in reading it by learning from other spiritual readers as their mentors.
Jesus is there for us as the greatest mentor, then the biblical writers, and then even Peter Leithart offers himself as a mentor in the process, but he is very clear that the best scenario is to learn in person from other spiritual readers. This may be impossible in this modern days when biblical interpretation is influenced and almost entirely taken by modern hermeneutics. It doesn’t matter. We can start learning from this eye opening work, and from here, we can start a legacy by becoming mentors for others.
This book is very small, it is just the eye opener, but it is a very well written small eye opener to be able to read the infinite riches that we have been passing by unnoticed in our Bibles.
Theopolitan reading is a small book, almost a booklet, but it has a punch strong enough to destroy massive books that seek to teach a specific modern hermeneutical method like a science instead of an art.
The reality of biblical interpretation is that we need to learn to read and understand a book inspired by a God who speaks human. That kind of reading is not a science, it is more like a spiritual art. We need to understand how God communicates his revealed Word and we need to train our senses to identify the patterns that are set from the very beginning in the creation that work as the framework for the whole canon of the Bible.
Nothing of this is achievable if we are approaching the Bible as if it is not an inspired God-breathed book, that requires a reader able to see by the Spirit what other readers can’t. The Bible is inspired by God the Holy Spirit, and it also requires spiritual readers well trained in reading it by learning from other spiritual readers as their mentors.
Jesus is there for us as the greatest mentor, then the biblical writers, and then even Peter Leithart offers himself as a mentor in the process, but he is very clear that the best scenario is to learn in person from other spiritual readers. This may be impossible in this modern days when biblical interpretation is influenced and almost entirely taken by modern hermeneutics. It doesn’t matter. We can start learning from this eye opening work, and from here, we can start a legacy by becoming mentors for others.
This book is very small, it is just the eye opener, but it is a very well written small eye opener to be able to read the infinite riches that we have been passing by unnoticed in our Bibles.
January 9, 2024
I loved this book. Leithart took everything I've read and listened to by him and James B. Jordan and distilled it down into this concentrated little book. There are themes and elements to see and identify in order to read scripture well. It seems they have not been taught or handed down well through the last many generations of the church. I'm eager to read better and understand more fully and recognize when there are garden, Adam/Eve, creation references, etc. in the text. I want to read scripture at least as carefully as we know to read other great books, not less. I will definitely be recommending this one to friends.
January 2, 2023
There's lots of good Biblical material in here. The argument is much easier to follow than Theopolitan Vision. Unfortunately it's very easy for this sort of methodology to run wild. I can attest in my own meditation on Scripture and in sermons I've been under that have this hermeneutic in the background, it's extremely easy to miss the forest for the trees. Nevertheless, there's a lot to be said for this approach, so long as it doesn't result in searching for esoteric interpretations just for the sake of it.,
May 4, 2024
Brilliant. As the description says, Leithart does not set forth a strict guide to hermeneutic principles but gives you a model for how to go deeper in reading Scripture. You get a taste in the examples of World, Adam, Eve, and Eden throughout the Bible. It’s truly refreshing to see typology and biblical theology woven into an approach that remains historically concrete. Once again I’m excited to dive back into the Bible.
October 18, 2024
Leithart does it again! If you're looking to renew your passion for reading the Bible, looking to test the way you've read it for so long (or not so long), or just wanting to see what all the hubbub is about, read this book.
Read
April 2, 2025read “through new eyes” first, then “house for my name”, then this. focuses on adam, eve, and eden as helpful “types” (doubt he’d use that word, maybe patterns?) that repeat throughout scripture. great stuff
Read
September 30, 2025Compelling introduction to a mentorship model of hermeneutical reading that I find to be quite helpful. It of course didn't answer every question about hermeneutics, but it provided a path forward for approaching the Scriptures that is illuminating.
September 16, 2020
Get this for apéritif and Jordan's Through New Eyes for the main course. A perfect pairing!
October 28, 2020
Great.
May 16, 2021
Wonderful. Lots going on in this small book. Lots of good takeaways to apply to your Bible reading.
February 4, 2023
If you would like to be a better reader, read this book! If you would not like to be a better reader, change your mind!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews