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Writing

Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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Psalms

Reimagining Psalm 23

The Bible depicts Man’s transformation from beas t to priest in and through Jesus Christ. Two sets of people have their garments designed by God in the Torah: Adam and Eve and priests (of which the High Priest’s garments garner most attention). The first garment is beastly, while the second…

by Ben LoveladyApril 19, 2023
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Church Government

The Rise and Dangers of Presbyterialism

I became the pastor of Westminster Bible Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky soon after completing my Ph.D. in church history. On paper, it was the ideal church for me. Even the name, I thought smacked of my preferences: the Westminster Confession with idealistic Biblicism. I didn’t know it had been,…

by John CarpenterApril 11, 2023
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Luke

An Easter Meditation

Why do we believe in the resurrection of Jesus? It itself, it is utterly unbelievable, as the two disciples on the road to Emmaus also concluded (Luke 24:19-24). But why is it so unbelievable? Are there not many stories of a dead man or woman coming back to life? Stories…

by Ralph Allan SmithApril 9, 2023
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Hope

Political Hope in the Negative World (Part 2)

In the first installment of this two-part essay, we provided a rough outline of a thick theological account of Christian hope. We concluded with mention of important critiques of such traditional views on hope, that by orienting Christians to place their ultimate hope in God and the future consummation of…

by James WoodApril 5, 2023
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Hope

Political Hope in the Negative World (Part 1)

Dare we hope in the midst of “ negative world ”? The idea of the “negative world” has recently served as a helpful framework for many to come to terms with the fact that Western societies (particularly the United States) are aggressively turning against their Christian roots and moral values.…

by James WoodMarch 28, 2023
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Biblical Studies

Luke’s Gospel of Seven

In his prologue, Luke tells us that his gospel history is an “orderly account” (1:3). Although generally chronological, time is not the only or the main organizing principle for his history. To argue for Luke’s main theme would take up too much space, but instead I want to explore one…

by Ryan HandermannMarch 24, 2023

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God of Metaphysics?

Toward the end of a chapter on divine simplicity in his Engaging the Doctrine of Creation , Matthew Levering favorably quotes the following what Oliva Blanchette: "Metaphysics,more than anything else in philosophy, has to do with the question of transcendence, especially the kind of transcendence that is presupposed in properly…

February 16, 2018

Zombie Movies

The topic here isn’t movies about zombies. It’s the use of dead actors in movies. Alexi Sargeant explains why digital resurrection is so creepy, using Peter Cushing’s reprise of the role of Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One as the key example. Sargeant isn’t put off by the use of…

February 15, 2018

Spirit of Segregation

The Azusa Street Revival that launched the Pentecostal movement was accompanied by a burst of racial reconciliation. An Anglican visitors marveled: "It was something very extraordinary, that white pastors from the South were eagerly prepared to go to Los Angeles to the Negroes, to have fellowship with them and to…

February 15, 2018
Lent

Time for Hunger

After His baptism, Jesus went into the wilderness to fast and to be tempted by the devil for forty days and nights. The first temptation concerned food. Jesus was the new Adam, facing a food test not in a garden but in the wilderness. Jesus was the new Israel, hungering…

February 14, 2018
American Politics

Apocalypse Now?

All around us, pundits have turned prophetic; analysts have become purveyors of apocalypse. Trump the beast is on the throne, and the world is falling apart. Rusty Reno thinks that reports of the world's end are greatly exaggerated: "We observe a growing divide between reality and rhetoric. Stock markets rise;…

February 13, 2018

Notes Toward a Pauline Theology of Music

O ne Corinthians 13-14 includes a cluster of musical metaphors. Paul compares the tongue-speaking of the loveless as a “noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (13:1), and insists that tongues need interpretation by noting that you can't know the tune without distinct tones (14:6-8). A few notes on what Paul's…

February 13, 2018

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