Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In The Meaning of History , Nikolai Berdyaev argues that the ancient Greeks had no concept of history and no philosophy of history because their concept of God and the world did not allow for it. “They conceived the world aesthetically, as a finite and harmonious cosmos. The most representative…
You know how the curtain parts at the beginning of a play, and you see a new scene, with characters and sets and incidents that had remained hidden up til then? Church last week was like that. Except the curtain was made up of all the things I thought were…
Genesis 3 records the terrible day when humanity fell into sin and shalom was violated. This was a moment of cosmic treason, when Adam and Eve violated their relationship with God by rebelling against His command and fell into the severe ignobility we all experience. The entrance of sin wrecked…
One of the most important contributions of twentieth-century Catholic nouvelle théologie , and of Henri de Lubac and Jean Danielou in particular, was its rehabilitation of the typological interpretation of the Bible practiced by patristic and medieval theologians. Typological interpretation assumes that events and institutions of the Old Testament present…
The Catholic News Service has reported that Pope Francis has called for the abolition of not only the death penalty, but also of life in prison. In a meeting with representatives of the International Association of Penal Law, the pontiff called for all “Christians and people of good will” to…
Each year, the United Nations designates November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon explains, “Violence against women and girls takes many forms and is widespread throughout the globe. It includes rape, domestic violence, harassment at work, abuse in school, female…
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Quentin Meillassoux's After Finitude opens with a powerful assault on what he calls "correlationism" through a defense of the distinction of primary and secondary qualities. He explains the rationale behind the distinction of primary and secondary. On the one hand, "nothing sensible - whether it be an affective or perceptual…
The first five commandments appear to be chiastically arranged. To wit: A. I am Yahweh; thou shalt have no other gods. B. Thou shalt not make image, bow to it, or serve it. C. Thou shalt not bear the name of Yahweh lightly. B'. Remember the Sabbath. A'. Honor your…
In a 2000 article in Isis , Ann Blair examines what she describes as "Mosaic physics," an effort to derive principles of physics from a literal reading of the creation account in Genesis 1. Most philosophers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries tried to offer a pious natural philosophy, one…
In a wide-ranging essay on how theology alone saves metaphysics , John Milbank explores the parallels between notions of "given" and the primacy of possibility on the one hand, and notions of the "gift" and the primacy of actuality on the other. He starts with Aristotle, for whom "the actual…
The Bible hints in various ways that property is proper to human persons. The deepest hint between person and property becomes evident when we think of Yahweh’s property. God created everything, and so is Lord of everything. We don’t own anything outright. We talk about property “rights,” but that’s the…
The eighth word prohibits stealing, but in Scripture the word "steal" (Heb. ganaph ) and the concept of "theft" covers more territory than we might assume. 1) There is a cluster of uses of ganaph in Genesis 31 (8x). Laban accuses Jacob of "stealing" away (vv. 20, 26-27), perhaps a…
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