Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The god of Israel was not just any god. Two thousand years of Christian history, with it’s besetting philosophical temptations, and full-blown deist and transcendentalist and universalist problems, have obscured the fact that, in itself, the identity of the true god (or gods) cannot be predetermined, any more than the…
Jacob and Solomon God gave wealth and possessions to Jacob, and then threatened to take them all away at Peniel. Jacob wrestled with God, and through prayer Jacob saw through the crisis by faith and was made victor (Hosea 12:4). The Kingdom period in Israel concerns the same themes. We…
In our study of the historical impact and unfolding of the Ten Words of God, we now arrive at the Third Word. The Third Word prohibits hypocrisy, and when we realize this, we can see right away that disobeying the Third Word is closely tied to the situation of Israel…
Abraham and Joshua In our previous two essays, we considered aspects of the lives of Abraham and Jacob, as these display how God works with men in history. These two men carry in themselves all the future of Israel, so to speak, and their lives at the individual level correspond…
Part 5: Laying New Foundations in a Dying World (continued) Physical Training Though it is seldom recognized any more, the fact is that no liberal arts and no science is possible apart from peace, and peace is only possible if there is a strong military presence that protects a nation.…
Last month, in our essay " Patriarchal Dominion ," we observed the flow from Abraham to Jacob to Joseph. Our concern here is to advance our understanding of that narrative flow. I should mention that I am assuming much that is found in my book Primeval Saints: Studies in the…
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Denominations, argues Craig Van Gelder, rest on an “organizational” conception of the church that thinks of the church in “primarily functional terms” according to which “the church is responsible to do something on behalf of God in the world” (24). Citing Martin Marty, he claims that this is “a turning…
Revelation 15:1 forms an inclusio with Revelation 12:1, 3: Both speak of a “great sign in heaven.” There is progression from chapter 12 to 15: At the beginning of the sequence, the dragon and woman are in heaven. In the course of chapter 12, both leave. When 15:1 returns to…
The 144,000 martyrs of Revelation 14 are prepared for self-sacrifice. They are the firstfruits harvested in death. They offer their blood on the altar of the world, and ascend like smoke beyond the firmament. Their enemies, those who worship the beast, are also sacrifices. Worshiping the beast ultimately leads to…
In a 2005 piece in Word & World , Russell Richey argues that denominationalism in the US has passed through several stages of development. Though denominationalism always exists in situations of religious pluralism and is always (like the political party, the free press and free enterprise) a “creature of modernity,”…
We live in unnatural times because of our unnatural time. We can eat foods produced on the other side of the globe. We can eat fruit out of season, partly because the fruit is in season somewhere and partly because of modern technologies of preservation. We seem to have detached…
Revelation 14 ends with a harvest scene. First grain is harvested by the son of man, then grapes are gathered by an angel with a sickle (vv. 17-19a). Three parts of the grape plant are mentioned: The clusters ( botruos ) of the vine ( ampelos ) and the individual…
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