Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Misunderstanding “Galatianism” has caused several problems in the Reformed church. Because circumcision is at issue in the Galatian epistle, some have fallen into thinking that ritual per se, rather than anything uniquely Mosaic or Jewish, is the object of Paul’s critique. Likewise, his polemic against “works of the law” is…
Many texts in the NT become more perspicuous if we keep in mind the possibility — and indeed ubiquity — of Gentile God-fearers in the Old Covenant. After the special covenant with Israel is set up, Gentiles are not altogether excluded from the hope of salvation. Israel’s special status in…
I was once trying to get a sermon out of Ephesians 1.12-14 and it seemed obvious that I should look for two parallel statements both ending with the phrase, “to the praise of his glory.” Paul here begins talking about two groups of people (“you” and “we”), and he later…
WHY A DENOMINATION WITH SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN ROOTS SHOULD CAREFULLY CONSIDER THE “NEW PERSPECTIVE ON PAUL” In my denomination, the PCA, we are continually haunted by the sins of our racist Southern past. It has become an annual rite at General Assembly for the issue to be addressed one way or…
Recent debates over whether or not, “justification is central” to Paul’s theology have reminded me of a sermon I once heard by a Presbyterian seminary student. This African American student challenged his audience on the sin of racism and the ways it might manifest itself among us. Like any good…
In Charles Hodge’s 1853 article, “Idea of the Church,” his stated aim is to analyze the idea of the Church proposed in the Apostles’ Creed, in which, “the Church is declared to be “the Communion of the Saints.” He writes: The conception of the Church as the communion of saints…
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I offer a biblical case for the “Catholic” sense that ordinary sacrament are extraordinary events at http://www.firstthings.com/
Peter J. Leithart is one of the most respected scholars in the American Evangelical world. He has written nearly thirty books on biblical exegesis, theology, literature, and history. His work is never predictable. Some of his titles, like Against Christianity and Defending Constantine , defy conventional evangelical wisdom. But behind…
Ross Douthat’s Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics is good. Though not a theologian, Douthat’s navigation of the last half-century of American religious history is theologically impressive. His instincts are sound, and his sketch of current heresies (a redesigned Jesus, prosperity gospel, the Oprahesque “God Within,” and…
Sean Michael Ryan’s Hearing at the Boundaries of Vision: Education Informing Cosmology in Revelation 9 (Library of New Testament Studies, The) is a careful and interesting study of how different ancient hearers or readers would have heard the Apocalypse depending on their literary education. Someone equipped only with the OT,…
http://vimeo.com/50912814
Evolution is a fact, says Jerry Coyne in Why Evolution Is True . Early on, he presents some of the evidence: “It is a remarkable fact that while there are many living species, all of us - you, me, the elephant, and the potted cactus - share the same fundamental…
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