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

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Hermeneutics

The Complexity of Biblical Allusion

There is no question about the fact that the book of Deuteronomy is full of literary allusion. But there is a serious problem, even a paradox, of understanding how that allusion works. To begin with, if we assume that Deuteronomy was written by Moses — with some editorial emendations added…

by Ralph Allan SmithJanuary 23, 2018
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Culture

The Artificial Resurrection

Genesis and Genetics in Blade Runner 2049 The power of science fiction, and what’s positive about it, is that you’re able to experience the worst-case scenario without actually having to live it. (Actor Ryan Gosling, who plays Officer “K”) (Warning: The following analysis contains spoilers for both Blade Runner films.)…

by Mike BullJanuary 18, 2018
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Biblical Studies

The Battle of Gog and Magog

The battle of Gog and Magog is found in Ezekiel 38-39. My purpose in this brief essay is to propound an explanation for this passage that I have not encountered in any of my commentaries, but that makes more sense to me than any other. I offer it here in…

by James B. JordanJanuary 16, 2018
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Deep Hope

I. Varlam Shalamov in Kolyma Tales describes his experience of the Gulag, where he spent more than a dozen of years. In a story titled The Life of Engineer Kipreev Shalamov reflects on the theme of hope in the life of a prisoner: “Hope always shackles the convict. Hope is…

by Bogumil JarmulakJanuary 11, 2018
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Biblical Theology

Abram’s 318 Men

Genesis 14:14 says that Abram mustered his trained men, “born in his house,” to rescue Lot, and gives their number as 318. It is clear that the precise number is provided for some reason, but what is it? S. Gevirtz notes that 318 is the sum of all the prime…

by James B. JordanJanuary 9, 2018
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Biblical Studies

The Flying Scroll

And he said to me, "What do you see?" And I answered, "I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits" (Zechariah 5:2). Immediately following his vision of the outpouring of the Spirit upon the restoration community (4:1-14), Zechariah saw a flying scroll. The…

by Peter LeithartJanuary 4, 2018

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Sin condemned in flesh

Here is what incarnation means: God the Son takes all of our broken humanity to Himself, embraces it, lives in it and with it, keeps faith with His Father through it all, even to death. And in His death, He takes our ruin to the grave. The cross is the…

December 8, 2008

Eucharistic meditation, second advent

Deuteronomy 12:18: you shall you shall eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God will choose, you and your son and daughter, and your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the LORD…

December 7, 2008

Exhortation, Second Advent

“In the Word was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness.” Thus John describes the incarnation of the Son. He comes as the living and life-giving light of the world. That’s good news. In the beginning, God spoke and light shone…

December 7, 2008

Unto death

John Meyendorff gets the nub of Cyrillian - one is tempted to say simply orthodox - Christology in this brief statement: “God without ceasing to be God, made human nature his own to the point of mortality.” God joins Himself to humanity, makes it His, and won’t let go. Even…

December 6, 2008

Proverbs 24:21-34

PROVERBS 24:21-22 Verse 21 begins with an exhortation to “fear” Yahweh and the king. Fear involves respect and honor, but also includes an element of what we call fear. To fear Yahweh is to recognize that He is the one who has power to send both soul and body to…

December 5, 2008

Cosmic harmony

From Eusebius’s panegyric to Constantine: “as the many-stringed lyre is composed of different chords , both sharp and flat, some slightly, others tensely strained, and others intermediate between the two extremes, yet all attuned according to the rules of harmonic art; even so this material world, compounded as it is…

December 3, 2008

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