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American Politics

How To Change the Supreme Court

Appalling as it is, the decision of the United States Supreme Court regarding marriage cannot come as much of a surprise to reformation minded Christians. At the same time, this event is a warning from which we might learn. It is parallel to the attack of AIDS in the homosexual…

by James B. JordanJuly 8, 2015
putin
Europe

Gay West and Straight East?

Should we trust Vladimir Putin, we could come to believe that the West is a gay paradise whereas Russia strongly defends traditional and even Christian morality. Similar conclusion could be drawn from polls, which say that the European Union and America are the parts of the world where the acceptance…

by Bogumil JarmulakJuly 7, 2015
street
City

Jane Jacobs: The Jane Austen of Economics

In 1974, Steven Goldberg published one of the books that radical feminists have since assiduously tried not to remember has ever been published: The Inevitability of Patriarchy . As David Gutmann said in a Commentary review: “Goldberg’s virtues as a scholar and a logician are formidable. . . .[He is]…

by Richard BledsoeJuly 7, 2015
stonewall
American Culture

A Pastoral Letter from Louisville

Since Friday’s SCOTUS decision in Obergefell v. Hodges , social media have been inundated with rainbows, tweets, quips, and essays both celebrating and decrying our new culture that has been officially codified in these United States. With a strong LGBT community in our city, we, no doubt, will see a…

by Bill SmithJuly 6, 2015
moses
Biblical Law

The Death Penalty in the Mosaic Law

During the course of recent debates among Evangelicals concerning same-sex marriage, critics of the traditional Christian position that homosexual acts and desires are sinful and unnatural have often pointed to Leviticus 20:13, where "he who lies with a man as with a woman" is condemned to death. In the following…

by Peter LeithartJuly 3, 2015
david-goliath-2
Homosexuality

When Obergefell Falls

We are being taunted. The giant’s name is Obergefell ; he is a six-fingered descendent of the Anakim. He has come out onto the battlefield arrayed in his impressive armor. He wears the media elites like a helmet of brass, and on his chest, he wears the deep pockets of…

by Toby SumpterJuly 2, 2015

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Pentecost

Pentecost and Public Life

What has Pentecost to do with public life? As Paul would say, much in every way. The Bible does not permit us to confine the work of the Spirit to the inner man or to private experience. Through Isaiah (44:3), the Lord promised to pour out water on the land…

May 15, 2018
Pentecost

Pentecostal Enlightenment

It’s the season of the Spirit, a time to muse on the politics of Pentecost. When Israel’s prophets predict the future coming of the Spirit, their next thought is almost always about the renewal of creation. According to Joel, the Spirit’s coming will turn Israel into Big Rock Candy Mountain”wine…

May 14, 2018

Anarchy and the Second Word

In Discourses on Livy , Machiavelli exposes the ruse of Roman law. Numa, the true founder of Rome, "mistrusted his own authority, lest it should prove insufficient to enable him to introduce new and unaccustomed ordinances in Rome." And so he claimed that the law came from the gods. All…

May 11, 2018
rembrandt-main

How To Pray

Pamela Tamarkin Reis ("Seeing Moses Plain," VT 55 [2005] 207-31) thinks that Moses' response to Yahweh in Numbers 11 is a model prayer. First, Moses refers to Israel as "this people," which is "a disdainful, arms-length usage employed frequently in the Bible to distance oneself from and to denigrate the…

May 11, 2018

Moses' Missing Repentance

Benjamin Sommer ("Reflecting on Moses," JBL 18 [1999] 601-624) thinks that Numbers 11 weaves together two sources, with very different descriptions of Moses. In narrative A, Moses is petulant, angry, despises his role as leader of Israel, wishes for death. According to B, he is an exemplary prophet, concerned for…

May 11, 2018

Image and Icon

Israel’s sanctuaries were dramatically different from those of other nations. There was no image of Yahweh. The priests maintained Yahweh’s house, but His presence was either invisible or so intense that it was unapproachable. The aniconic worship of Israel was a standing reminder that their God is a different sort…

May 10, 2018

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