Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt…
Part 5: Laying New Foundations in a Dying World As I mentioned above, the history of Israel involved several centuries as a church-without-a-culture, and then several centuries as a culture-without-a-city. To be sure, there was an informal culture around the church of the Patriarchs, but the civilization of free farmers…
In the Reformation Tradition we baptize both professing believers and their children. In the case of infants it is now commonly insisted that this is done because the children are already in covenant with God. Baptism is a sign and seal of a previously existing reality. Despite the popularity of…
Concerning Sex & the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the loaf of bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one loaf, we who are many…
Protestant-Catholic debates about the sacraments have usually taken the form of debates about sacramental efficacy. Protestants claim that Catholics believe that sacraments work ex opere operato, virtually a magical view of the sacraments. A priest goes through the motions and says the mumbo-jumbo and — presto! — the sacraments confer…
In 27.2, the Westminster Confession says that because of the “spiritual relation” between sacraments and the things they represent, “the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other.” Applied to baptism, this means that when the Bible says that we are baptized into Christ (Rom. 6), it…
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I’ve argued in several recent venues that Gen 15 is not the story of Abraham’s conversion. He was a worshiper of God before that time, and Hebrews 11 is explicit that Abraham was a believer from the time he left Ur (or when he left his father’s house). Unless we…
I’ve argued in several recent venues that Gen 15 is not the story of Abraham’s conversion. He was a worshiper of God before that time, and Hebrews 11 is explicit that Abraham was a believer from the time he left Ur (or when he left his father’s house). Unless we…
Accommodation is a way of handling the “problem” of theological language. Since God is the infinite Creator and we are creatures, He can speak to us only by “accommodating” His language to our capacities. This sometimes goes so far as to suggest that God has given us “divine misinformation” in…
Leon Wieseltier , not surprisingly, has a blisteringly negative review of Gibson’s film in the March 8 issue of TNR . Along the way, though, Wieseltier’s article is inadvertently insightful. Here is his description of the violence of the torture: “There is only the relentless destruction and dehumanization of a…
The Winter 2004 issue of The Wilson Quarterly also has an article on Darwin’s studies of earthworms, in which Darwin made innovative contributions. Darwin was inspired to study works after a visit to his uncle, Josiah Wedgewood: “Upon arriving, he scarcely had time to put down his hat before Wedgewood…
The Winter 2004 issue of The Wilson Quarterly also has an article on Darwin’s studies of earthworms, in which Darwin made innovative contributions. Darwin was inspired to study works after a visit to his uncle, Josiah Wedgewood: “Upon arriving, he scarcely had time to put down his hat before Wedgewood…
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