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Biblical Horizons

Puritans v. Reformed Worship: (Part Two of a Book Chapter Review)

Continuing through The Worship of the English Puritans by Horton Davies: The author gives some of his own appraisals rather than immediately quoting Durel, even though that is how he began his chapter. In Davies’ opinion, while the Puritans would invoke their own interpretation of Scripture in order to condemn,…

by Mark HorneFebruary 9, 2008
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Ephesians

Luther Should Have Inserted “Alone” a Second Time in Romans

What follows are from a couple of posts on my blog. I hoped to do a series. If I do follow up, I will probably want to do it here on the BH blog rather than my own. Feedback welcome: It is no secret that some have been scathingly critical…

by Mark HorneFebruary 9, 2008
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Baptism

Jesus’ Baptism and ours

Jeremy Sexton wrote this in an earlier line of discussion: “Along those lines, I think what we most often miss in our theology of baptism (though Calvin didn’t miss this) is that Christian baptism — if it “is” anything that came before — is Jesus’ water baptism. In our baptism,…

by James B. JordanFebruary 8, 2008
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Numbers

Israel was not (all of) the Church

Jeff pointed out that baptism is not Christian circumcision . Looking at the comments, I think it might be helpful to point out that Israel was not the Church . In the new creation, the idea of an “unbaptized Christian” is either very temporary or an anomaly. Those who came…

by Mark HorneFebruary 6, 2008
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Parables

Parables, Part I

Once a upon a time, one Sunday morning, a pastor mounted his pulpit for the sermon and said the following: A troubled young man walked into a downtown high-rise building. As he approached the directory on the wall, he took out a small booklet and looked back and forth from…

by Jeff MeyersFebruary 5, 2008
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Exodus

What is a Prophet? (Friendship and Justification)

If you are, say, leading a Bible study in Genesis, you might notice that right after the covenant is renewed and circumcision is established (ch 17) that we see Abraham eating and drinking with God (ch 18). After that meal, God makes a point of saying the he should share…

by Mark HorneFebruary 3, 2008

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In a Beehive Far, Far Away

Max Gladstone doesn’t think that the human-looking creatures in Star Wars can be humans. After all, they inhabit a galaxy far, far away in a distant time. Humans evolved on earth, and fairly recently. He assembles the clues to their species identity. There are few women, yet the ones who…

May 12, 2014

Cold Warrior?

It’s popular to deride Putin as a throwback, a Cold Warrior out of his time. Peter Pomerantsev thinks this underestimates Putin’s grasp of contemporary geopolitical realities. A short story by one of Vladislav Surkov, an advisor to Putin, offers a clue to Putin’s strategy. Surkov’s story is about the fifth…

May 12, 2014

Reformational Catholicism Now

Pastor Tom Clark tells some stories of local catholicity at the Trinity House page this morning.

May 12, 2014

Tragedy of Disorder

King Lear is a tragedy of disorder, or so I argue at the Colson Center web site .

May 12, 2014

Ceaseless worship

When John enters heaven, he stumbles into a worship service. Four living creatures offer praise “day and night without cease” ( anapausis ), like the saints in 7:15 (like the temple servants in Leviticus 8:35; 1 Chronicles 9:33). The Lord exacts ceaseless day-and-night worship later on in the book: Those…

May 10, 2014

Ox, Lion, Eagle, Man

In Ezekiel and Revelation, the cherubim-living creatures are ox, lion, eagle, and man. If they represent the whole of living creation as worshipers, why are there no fish? Why two land creatures - ox and lion? Isn’t that discriminatory? Why not ox, crab, eagle, man? Other biblical lists of creatures,…

May 10, 2014

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