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

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Biblical Horizons

The Sin of Ham and the Curse of Canaan, Part 1

The history of the sin of Ham and the curse of Canaan comes in the middle of the Generations of Noah, a section of Genesis that begins at Genesis 6:9 and extends to the closing notice, Genesis 11:9. To understand the story better, it is necessary to get in mind…

by James B. JordanJune 3, 1997
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Eucharist

You and Your Son and Daughter: Christ’s Communion with Young Children

This paper was written to persuade people who were members of the Presbyterian Church in America. It should be accessible to anyone who believes in baptizing infants–especially to those who consider themselves a part of the Reformation Tradition. References to “our Confession” or “our standards” invoke the Westmeinster Confession of…

by Mark HorneJune 3, 1997
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Baptism

The Westminster Standards & Sacramental Efficacy

Version 1.2 I write this brief essay in order to address a problem I have encountered. I keep reading explanations of doctrine of the sacraments fundamentally empty of the content which was once held by virtually all Reformed confessions and formulations. Furthermore, I read explanations and commentaries on the Westminster…

by Mark HorneJune 3, 1997
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Biblical Chronology

John Sailhamer Weighs In, Part 2

We continue our analysis of John Sailhamer’s book *Genesis Unbound: A Provocative New Look at the Creation Account* (Multnomah Books, 1996), which argues that Genesis 1:2ff. is not about the creation of the whole world, but about the preparation of the Land of Eden, which is also the Promised Land.…

by James B. JordanMay 31, 1997
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Matthew

Toward a Chiastic Understanding of the Gospel According to Matthew, Part 2

III. Death of God’s Firstborn in the real Egypt: This huge chiasm has as its center the betrayal of Peter, as the leader of the disciples himself rejects Jesus. Peter holds an oficial position as high priest among the disciples of the incarnate Lord. His rejection of Jesus is the…

by James B. JordanMay 31, 1997
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Eucharist

A Response to Rev. Bacon’s Argument that Manna was not a Sacrament

I wrote a response to Rev. Richard Bacon’s tract, What Mean Ye by This Service , a copy of which I borrowed from the library at Covenant Theological Seminary. However, I recently discovered that a new appendix was added to the version available on the Blue Banner’s web page. This…

by Mark HorneMay 29, 1997

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God’s telos

Athanasius insists that the Father must have an eternal Son because the Father’s essence could never have been imperfect: “if He is called the eternal offspring of the Father, He is rightly so called. For never was the essence of the Father imperfect ( ateles ), that what is proper to it should…

November 4, 2009
Literature

Lying

From Richard Wilbur’s “Lying”: In the strict sense, of course, We invent nothing, merely bearing witness To what each morning brings again to light: Gold crosses, cornices, astonishment Of panes, the turbine-vent which natural law Spins on the grill-end of the diner’s roof, Then grass and grackles or, at the…

November 4, 2009

Canon Sale

Canon Press is having a Fall Sale, which you can read about here: http://www.canonpress.com/shop/

November 4, 2009

Conundrums of Simplicity, 2

Perhaps the most obvious and easiest resolution of the conundrums that Augustine explores is a perichoretic one. Does the Father have wisdom “in Himself”? Yes, because the Wisdom that is the Son dwells in Him  by the Spirit.  Does the Father possess His being “in Himself”?  Yes, because the Son…

November 3, 2009

Conundrums of Simplicity

1 Corinthians 1:24 says that Christ is the power and wisdom of God.  Augustine spends two books of de Trinitate trying to figure out what that means.  In Book 6, he tries out the notion that the Father’s power and wisdom is simply the power and wisdom that He begets…

November 3, 2009

Liquid identity

Augustine argues ( de Trinitate 5.1.6) that claims about human beins are spoken either secundum substantiam or secundum accidens .  The latter category includes relational terms, statements about us ad aliquid , with reference to another.  That is, for humans, in contrast to God, relational terms are accidents, changeable.  God…

November 3, 2009

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