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

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Isaiah

The Desert of the Sea

Introduction Isaiah 21 can only be understood in the light of its placement in the architecture of the second “volume” of the prophecy (chapters 13–27). The contents are arranged in twin sevenfold “columns” that represent the great bronze pillars of Solomon’s Temple: Jachin and Boaz, priest and king. The priestly…

by Mike BullFebruary 20, 2025
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Isaiah

Jesus Enthroned on the Zodiac

A Biblical Reflection on the Purpose of the Constellations The starry heavens hold a place of wonder in the hearts of men. Since man’s creation we have looked up into the heavens and have beheld its glory. This is particularly true of the night sky. The stars, in their shinning…

by Matthew DarbyFebruary 19, 2025
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Matthew

An Overall Chiasm around Six Discourses in the Gospel According to Matthew  

The case for there being five discourses within the Gospel according to Matthew is a hard one to challenge: surely the closing formula “when Jesus finished these sayings” as found in 8:1, 11:1, 13:53, 19:1, and 26:1 settles it once and for all. And by the five instances of the…

by Benoit EngelFebruary 13, 2025
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Matthew

Exegesis of the Great Commission

The Long Commission The Great Commission of Matthew 28 has long been a cornerstone of American Evangelicalism. It has formed and fashioned the American church’s missional impulse. Yet when viewed from the wide lens of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, the Great Commission is revealed as one of the pillars…

by Ralph Allan SmithFebruary 11, 2025
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Lord's Supper

Genuine Paedocommunion

I am delighted to see that more and more churches in the Reformed tradition are now recognizing that all baptized children are members of the body of Christ and therefore ought to be communing with the rest of the body at the Lord’s Table. This has been decades in the…

by Jeff MeyersFebruary 6, 2025
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Twitter and Emotional Sabotage

Good leaders have always been rare. In today’s world, they seem extinct. Joe Rigney’s recent book Leadership and Emotional Sabotage digs into the spiritual reasons for the leadership epidemic and recommends cures. Rigney starts with a summary of a book by Edwin Friedman called A Failure of Nerve . Friedman’s…

by Christian LeithartFebruary 4, 2025

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The “N” in NGO

N ongovernmental organizations have been on my radar since I heard a pro-family activist from Ireland describe the array of forces pressing for approval of same-sex marriage—many political leaders, business leaders, some church leaders, and NGOs. Where, I wondered, do these NGOs get their resources? Who is actually funding these…

June 19, 2015

More on the “N” in NGO

According to the Agenda Europe web site , the gay rights network ILGA Europe receives most of its funding from the European Commission. To receive the funding, ILGA has to coordinate its planning with the commission, which means that “this self-described “non-governmental” organization actually appears to be something like an…

June 19, 2015

Notes Toward a Theology of Works

D iscussions of the place of good works ( erga ) in the Christian life often focus on Pauline sources. Johannine texts are equally important, and there are few passages richer in resources for a theology of works (perhaps a theology of human action) than the letters to the churches…

June 18, 2015

Evangelicals and Catholics

B efore Roe , before the culture wars, before the 60s, Will Herberg was observing social dynamics that, he argued, would initially put Protestants and Catholics more sharply at odds but eventually push them together. The key shift was the move of Catholics into the mainstream of American middle-class life.…

June 18, 2015

Enthronement

The verb “sit” ( kathemai ) is used thirty-three times in Revelation, often explicitly with the connotation of enthronement. A dozen or more times God is said to be the “One seated” (4:2-3, 9-10; 5:1, 7, 13; 6:16; 7:10, 15; 19:4; 20:11; 21:5), and twice John sees twenty-four elders enthroned…

June 18, 2015

Eating Doritos

T amar Adler reviews Mark Schatzker's The Dorito Effect in a recent edition of NYTBR . It's another book about food, but Schatzker traces the problems with food back to breeding of plants and animals. In Adler's summary: “Over the last 70 years, American animal and plant breeding has focused…

June 18, 2015

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