Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
We assume we understand “chapter two” of Ephesians, and therefore generally get the entire Old Testament wrong. We also misunderstand the evangelism in Acts. Our misunderstandings might have happened without Ephesians 2, but the confusion is mutually reinforcing. This confusion (either cause or effect or both) also extends to a…
From the Cucumber to the Cross All creation groans with the pains of childbirth, so the Apostle Paul tells us in his epistle to the Roman church. This is a fact that I believe every living person not only knows, but feels deeply. Something about this world just isn’t quite…
Angela Standhartinger has written about the so-called “house-hold code in Col. 3:18-4:1.” Her introductory paragraph is illuminating. The household code in Col. 3.18-4.1 is the earliest text in the New Testament that calls on women, children and slaves to submit to men, fathers and masters. In many respects this text…
On the Woman Question Strength and honor are her clothing And she shall rejoice in time to come. There’s been, I’m sorry to say, more Discourse. Primarily though not exclusively on Twitter. About the Woman Question, again. So I figured I’d make things a little worse by highlighting an aspect…
How to Spot a Simulation The smartest way to take over the world is to replace it with a fake one. The smartest way to replace it with a fake one is little by little. Part 2 Part 1 can be found HERE . Dirt or gold Another difference between…
How to Spot a Simulation The smartest way to take over the world is to replace it with a fake one. The smartest way to replace it with a fake one is little by little. Part 1 Deception is the common factor in all of Satan’s schemes, but throughout history…
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At the chiastic center of John 9, the Jews interrogate the blind man’s parents, threatening them with expulsion from the synagogue if they confess Jesus. Why do the parents appear? The answer goes back to the disciples’ question at the beginning of the chapter: Jesus says the parents have not…
Several of my students have pointed to the link between John 8 and 9. Jesus declares that He is the light of the world in 8:12, but because of the opposition of the Jews and their intent to kill Him, He withdraws and hides Himself - He hides the light…
Several of my students in a Shakespeare elective have pointed to the way Shakespeare’s use of disguise and deception in comedy plays into his evangelical “lose life to find it” theme. Characters become more fully themselves by quite literally becoming other than themselves. Viola becomes Cesario, but through that otherness…
In a paper on the chiastic structure of Midsummer Night’s Dream , a student, Jason Helsel, suggests that two scenes with the mechanicals “serve as a link or portal between the city and the forest.” Nicely put; the path from the city of law and justice to the magical world…
Jesus describes a violent and tumultuous mission (Matthew 10). They Twelve will display great power, and arouse vicious opposition. They will advance the kingdom, but the violent will try to arrest the kingdom by force, by crosses and killings and exclusions. But the last words of this discourse give us…
For Jesus’ first-century disciples, estrangement from family members was a personal and social disaster. They lost their identity, their network of business and personal connections, their social and economic safety net, their prospects for future inheritance. Jesus encouraged His disciples by promising that they would receive far more than they…
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