Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon's Porch. Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. Acts 5:12-13 When Grandma needed healing, her children knew the…
Like certain kinds of music, the unchanging rhythm of Aquinas's Summa gets into your bones. Read a few sections and it begins to run through your head. You start drumming your fingers, humming, swaying gently to the rhythm of Videtur-Sed Contra-Responsio, Videtur-Sed Contra-Responsio, “It seems-On the contrary-I answer.” The only…
And Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and became the father of Shelah . . . And Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father of Eber . . . and Eber lived thirty-four years and became the father of Peleg . . . and Peleg lived thirty years, and became the…
Of course, the title should be something like, “The Fall of the Angel Who Came to be Satan,” but that and other more accurate titles are too cumbersome. The question is: who is Satan, and when and how did he become “Satan” (Adversary, Accuser) and the “devil” (slanderer)? By my…
In The Oddness of the Feast of Booths , we saw that the Feast of Booths is a commemoration of the first encampment of Israel at Sukkoth (Booths) in Exodus 12:37, almost certainly the first celebration of the week of Unleavened Bread after the first Passover. The Feast of Booths…
This piece was originally published in 1989. 1. The Blessed Hope "Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus." Titus 2:13 I was recently asked how I as a postmillennialist would preach on "The Blessed Hope." This is often…
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In his contribution to Pentecostalism and the Christian Churches , Waldo Cesar calls attention to the spatial connection of Latin American Pentecostal churches with the urban streets of Latin America: “There is nothing special from an architectural point of view, and in many cases large movie theater, rented or bought,…
Waldo Cesar observes ( Pentecostalism and the Future of the Christian Churches , 91-92) that Protestantism has often felt like a foreign import to Latin America. There was a discontinuity between Protestant missions and the local population, and Protestantism tended to rely on the outside world. All this impressed Latin…
David Martin ( Future of Christianity , 68-69) notes that in the heat of Pentecostal revival, blacks and whites fuse. He admits that “the fusion of black and white was partly reversed as the movement developed, when it came to the mingling of races. The white heat of revival initially…
“A key function in most religions,” write Michael Emerson and Christian Smith ( Divided By Faith ) “is to proclaim what ought to be, what is universally true, what is right and just. We call this the prophetic voice” (163). American religion, however, fragments this prophetic voice, even within the…
Leviticus 1-3 form a unit. 1:1 begins with “Yahweh called to Moses and spoke to him,” and a similar phrase, ‘Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying” shows up in 4:1. Chapters 1-3 form a single speech from God. The chapters cover three offerings: the ascension ( ‘olah ), the tribute of…
One the features of denominational Christianity highlighted by David Martin is a distinctive mode of sacramental theology that he labels “subjective.” Unlike sects, denominations retain sacraments; unlike the church, the sacrament is less the work of God than the expression of the worshiper. The contours of his characterization are worth…
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