Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Why there is more to Jephthah than meets than eye It was not that long ago that I realized the Jephthah-story and the Jesus-story were basically the same story. Sounds crazy, I know. But here is a one-paragraph synopsis of both: The people of God have gone their own way,…
G.K. Chesterton famously said that the Gospels don’t reveal Jesus’ mirth. It’s true we never catch Jesus laughing. But can we believe He never did? I don’t think so. Laughter is human, and Jesus was fully human. Jesus promised that those who mourned would laugh. He mourned; would He not…
Matthew 2 has all the elements of an exodus story. There’s a murderous king, who slaughters Jewish babies. There’s a infant who will be Israel’s future deliverer, saved from the murderous king so He can later return to save His people and lead them to the Promised land. There’s an…
The calendar of Israel was primarily theological, centered on commemorating the salvific acts of God, but also agricultural, celebrating the creation-restoring effects of those salvific acts. The feasts of the first month celebrated the reviving of the world in the Spring, and typified the cutting off of the Savior in…
The chiastic shape corresponds to the shape of human life. This should not surprise us, because we are made in the image of God, and God is manifest in Word and Spirit. If we are living epistles, our lives will look a bit like the literary shape of the books…
Back in January, Venkatesh Rao wrote a fascinating post on the Ribbonfarm blog, discussing different forms of models of narrative. Engaging with Ursula LeGuin’s talk ‘The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction’ , Rao explores her contrast between the (male) ‘hero narrative’ and the (female) ‘carrier-bag story’, and suggests a third…
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In her God Needs No Passport (89-90), Peggy Levitt reviews some of the recent discussions of cosmopolitanism - from luminaries like Kwame Anthony Appiah, Martha Nussbaum, Amartya Sen. Levitt discovers one notable absence in all of them: Religion plays almost no role. And that absence is due, she argues, to…
In his 1908 treatise on Passing Protestantism and Coming Catholicism , Newman Smyth posed what he considered the decisive question about Protestantism: “to what extent are the Protestant churches losing control of the forces of life? . . . Is it mastering the controlling forces of life?” (13). His answer…
A strong angel takes up a millstone and tosses it into the sea. Just so, he says, Babylon will be thrown down violently and will never be found (Revelation 18:21). How is a millstone like a city? For starters, a millstone is a piece of earth, a rock that is…
Theology students learn everything except the Bible. They learn historical theology and church history, systematics and dogmatics; they master the linguistic and interpretive tools to study the Bible for themselves. Actual study of the Bible is often minimal. Theopolis Bible courses focus on the Scriptures themselves. Under the guidance of…
In a hundred years it may be more important that you are from New York, Shanghai, New Delhi, Johannesburg, or Amsterdam, than that you are from the United States, China, India, South Africa, or Holland. The city is becoming central in new and unique ways. The great institutions of the…
I'm taking a break from the blog for a couple of weeks. Back in mid-July.
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