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Writing

Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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Revelation

Rescuing Revelation: Part II

This is Part II of a 2-part essay. For Part 1, click HERE . Covenant context Most Bible teachers apply the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles directly to Christians today without any thought of the historical – and more importantly, legal – context. The ministry of Christ and the…

by Mike BullOctober 10, 2017
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Revelation

Rescuing Revelation: Part 1

Introduction The book of Revelation polarises Christians. Some become obsessed with ‘cracking its code’ while others throw it into the too hard basket. Thankfully, recent advances in biblical theology enable us to liberate this enigmatic book from both mistreatment and obscurity. The prophecy is attractive to some because of its…

by Mike BullOctober 5, 2017
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Biblical Theology

Abraham's Life as a Type

I'm considering the possibility that the life of Abraham as recounted in Genesis contains a typological prophecy of the history of Israel; that is, that the events in Abraham’s life broadly anticipate events in Israel’s history. This kind of pattern is seen in the case of Moses, for instance, because…

by James B. JordanOctober 3, 2017
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Culture

Teenagers and the Smartphone Beast

According to this recent article in The Atlantic , teenage promiscuity is decreasing. Apparently there is a general "decline in dating" which also "tracks with a decline in sexual activity." The figures are startling: The drop is the sharpest for ninth-graders, among whom the number of sexually active teens has…

by Steve JefferySeptember 28, 2017
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Matthew

Fulfilling the First Commandment

"Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'" - Matthew 22:37 Jesus says that this is the most important commandment: to love God with our heart, soul, and mind. If we obey this command,…

by Lindsey TollefsonSeptember 26, 2017
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Eucharist

Strange and Glorious New Rites

At the last supper, Jesus took bread and, having given thanks, He broke it and gave it to His disciples while saying, "Take, eat, this is My body given for you. Do this for My memorial." What Jesus did was recognized by the disciples, because it took place every morning…

by James B. JordanSeptember 21, 2017

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American Pluralism

Kevin M. Schultz's contribution to Faith in the New Millennium is “The Blessings of American Pluralism, and Those Who Rail Against It.” The essay is partly a study of the history of Americans' reconciliation with American pluralism. He starts with Sonya Sotomayor's appoint to the Supreme Court. A Catholic, she…

November 20, 2015

Divine Liturgist

God speaks and light appear. He separates light and darkness, assigns names to each, and judges the whole to be good. Next day, He’s at it again, speaking, separating, assessing, judging. And so it goes throughout the days of creation: With an insistent, incantatory rhythm, God speaks, sees, names, judges.…

November 20, 2015

Incarnation in Exile

Ezekiel’s initial vision is of the Lord’s chariot-throne, coming with whirling wheels and a sound like thunder, to visit him at the River Chebar. Though the prophet is in exile, the glory of the God of the temple is with him. Robert Jenson ( Ezekiel ) highlights the “incarnational” force…

November 19, 2015

Baptized Education

The Christian school has to function as a fruit of the Christian church. That does not mean it has to be administratively connected to a church. But to be Christian it has to take the church’s ministry as its given starting point. Specifically, I have in mind the sacrament, rite,…

November 19, 2015

Rites of the Stadium

M odern sports are not simple competition between the two teams. If they were only about physical competition, games would be shorter, less glitzy, less energetic. Sports are ritualized events, liturgies. The crowd’s behavior is deliberately intensified with ritual elements – with mascots who emblem the team, with fight songs…

November 19, 2015

Amnesiac Modernity

A wonderful quotation from Paul Connerton's How Societies Remember , recently noted by Rod Dreher: “Under the conditions of modernity the celebration of recurrence can never be anything more than a compensatory strategy, because the principle of modernity itself denies the idea of life as a structure of celebrated recurrence.…

November 18, 2015

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