Spotting the Leopards

The leopard sneaks his way along many of the books in Torrey. He’s hard to spot because he shows up without any cause seemingly. Earlier I wrote a post on Ignatius, the God bearer, who died facing the “leopards of Rome”. A few weeks later in session we were discussing T. S. Eliot who again brought up the idea of leopards. I saw the small thread between the two and pointed out to my friend David. He helped me see what was really going on, so this post is dedicated to him.

Leopards show up in Ignatius’ letter to the Romans referring to the Roman guards bearing him to his martyrdom. While they get worse over time, he claims that they are making him more of a disciple of Christ, but he is only beginning to become a disciple. David points out that Ignatius’ goal is to replicate Christ in his physical suffering. He views these leopards as the instruments of God that will guide him towards his end.