Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Theophanic revelation is historically progressive, or eschatological, in character. First of all, in Genesis 1:2, the Spirit appeared inside the creation, sent by the Father. After the creation of man, the Spirit worked and works with humanity to bring us to maturity, from Daughter to Bride to fruitful Mother. He…
On the eighth day of the rite of "filling the hand," Aaron began his service at the altar. His first offering was a "calf" (Heb. `egel ), which served as a purification offering for himself and (apparently) his household (Leviticus 9:2, 8). This is striking for a couple of reasons.…
One of the distinctive items of the high priest’s clothing was the "golden plate" inscribed with the words "Holy to Yahweh" (Exodus 28:36-38). The word translated as "plate" is tsits , which literally means "flower." The verbal and noun forms are both used in Numbers 17:8, which describes Aaron’s rod…
The square, rectangle, and cross shapes appear all over the sanctuaries God reveals in the Bible: Tabernacle, Solomon’s Temple, Ezekiel’s Temple, New Jerusalem. One thing that can be said right away about these designs, and the occasional perfect circle (the lavers), is that they do not occur in nature. They…
"For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea-monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40). Some reflections on Jonah’s Big Fish have led to the following essay. Let me…
Citing Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18-20, James Jordan has written that "the name of God in use among the nations was God Most High’" (Hebrew, `el `elyon ; in Through New Eyes , p. 176). In addition to Melchizedek, one could cite the example of Balaam, who invokes the Lord both…
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Coleridge, on the other hand, stood up for Bertram: “I cannot agree with the solemn abuse which the critics have poured out upon Bertram in All’s Well that ends Well . He was a young nobleman in feudal times, just bursting into manhood, with all the feelings of pride of…
Samuel Johnson said of Bertram in Shakespeare’s All’s Well that Ends Well : “I cannot reconcile my heart to Bertram, a man noble without generosity, and young without truth, who marries Helena as a coward and leaves her as a profligate; when she is dead by his unkindness, sneaks home…
Belated help for a friend: Pastor Ralph Smith of the Mitaka Evangelical Church in Tokyo has produced an course entitled “Shakespeare the Christian.” The lectures cover Shakespeare’s debts to Christianity and his use of the Bible, and then analyze 10 of the plays in detail. Ralph has done his homework,…
Augustine on Psalm 149: “Chorus Christi jam totus mundus est.” Christ’s choir is now the whole world.
Behind Varro’s classification of Roman religion into mythical, natural, and civic, Augustine discerns an interest, and a political one. Varro speaks harshly about the mythic or fabulous religions, for violating the dignity of immortal gods. Yet, the classification system serves to protect civic religion from similar condemnation. On Augustine’s reading,…
Augustine quotes Cicero saying, “quae harmonia a musicis dicitur in cantu, eam esse in civitate concordiam.” That is, somewhat loosely, “what musicians call harmony in singing is concord in the city.”
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