Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In a recent article in Biblical Horizons , I argued that the imagery of James 1:21 alludes to baptism, and particularly to baptism as an ordination and incorporation into the holy priesthood. This understanding of baptism as ordination to priesthood is not, I have since discovered, original, but in fact…
He will be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two of them (Zechariah 6:13b). A prime difficulty in the interpretation of this verse is the antecedent of the pronoun "them." A number of alternatives have been offered. Some suggest that the "two"…
Like certain kinds of music, the unchanging rhythm of Aquinas's Summa gets into your bones. Read a few sections and it begins to run through your head. You start drumming your fingers, humming, swaying gently to the rhythm of Videtur-Sed Contra-Responsio, Videtur-Sed Contra-Responsio, “It seems-On the contrary-I answer.” The only…
The Book of Revelation is a gold mine of liturgical information. The various hymns and exclamations in Revelation have always been used in Christian worship. As I have been studying Revelation this year, it occurred to me that make a complete hymn out of the various hymns in the book.…
In the book of Revelation we find a triad of Strong Angels, and another triad of Other Angels. The purpose of this essay is to explore the Biblical background of these two sets, and thus fill out their meaning. The first triad of angels we encounter in the Bible comes…
In Revelation, the term aggelos means messenger, of course, but with a special emphasis on messenger as covenant administrator. This is immediately obvious from the fact that the angels are constantly acting to enforce the covenant one way or another: sealing people, bringing judgment, calling for repentance, etc. They are…
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Another of my lectionary meditations is up at the Christian Century web site. You can find it at: http://www.theolog.org/blog/2008/06/blogging-towa-2.html#more.
Molly Worthen has an interesting piece on Rushdoony and Reconstructionism in the June issue of Church History . She is hardly uncritical, but also notes that even while “journalists have made too much of reconstructionism’s grip on mainstream evangelicalism, they ahve also overlooked its real significance in the development of…
Kruger again, speaking of the incarnation of the Son of God as a carpenter in Nazareth: “For at least a moment in history, human laughter, human sharing, human compassion, human love, human fellowship and comaraderie and togetherness were all more than human. For at least one moment in history, carpentry…
In his invigorating The Great Dance , C. Baxter Kruger asks which Adam we think is greater: “If the human race fell in a mere man named Adam, what happened to the human race in the death, resurrection and ascension of the incarnate Son of God? Why is it that…
Gracia’s entry is very good - a clearly written, thorough, stimulating summary of philosophical and literary debates about the meaning of meaning. He ends with the claim that theology “establishes not only textual meaning, but also the degree to which other factors play roles in the proper interpretation of Scriptures.”…
Gracia ultimately argues for a “cultural function” view of meaning. Cultural function goes beyond other factors that play a role in determining meaning “in that it establishes which of those factors take precedence over the others, and whether they are given any role in the determination of meaning.” For Gracia,…
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