Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
After Elijah’s battered and depressed howling in the wilderness it must have seemed like the new prophet came eating and drinking. Which is a pattern we see again in the New Testament—John is explicitly identified with Elijah (Luke 1.17, Matthew 11.14), howling the truth in the wilderness that the people…
Reading Robert Conquest’s biography of Stalin 1 has opened new lines of meditation on Paul’s command in Colossians 3:9. But before turning to that, let me briefly indicate what Paul is not saying. He is not saying that there is no such thing as righteous deception, such as Jael practiced…
You won’t find wild lions today in Israel. But lions used to range much more widely than they do now, and in biblical times they were a menace that shepherds in Israel had to contend with. David did as a shepherd boy, and Amos—who “ was among the sheepbreeders of…
I would like to remedy a flaw for English speakers in the book of Genesis. A flaw that may seem innocuous, but we must remember where the devil lives...in the details. If we are to fear the Lord, it behooves our translation committees to ensure that the fearfulness of God…
While reading at my son’s baseball game this week, a mom from our school approached me and asked if I was reading Dante. I wasn’t, but our sons are both reading Divine Comedy in their sophomore literature class, so it was a reasonable question. What unfolded was a quick conversation…
In the first two essays in this series, I addressed the question of how the nations would learn about Israel’s Torah, in the second essay especially emphasizing the aesthetic aspects of Israel’s testimony. For we naturally wonder: How would people in Mesopotamia or Egypt, not to mention the rest of…
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Sage cautions from de Lubac: In speaking of the generous giving of God, “one must, a fortiori , be careful to correct - if not wholly to avoid - the neo-Platonist metaphors of flux, of gushing, of ‘effluence,’ of emanation, of soaking into things. God is not, as one might…
In the sequence of miracles in Matthew 8:23-9:8, the shaking of the sea parallels the violence of the demoniacs and this parallels . . . what? The sin of the paralytic? Perhaps, but it seems more likely that Matthew is working out a parallel between the demons and the scribes.…
From Nicolas of Cusa: “The more I comprehend that you are incomprehensible, O my God, the more I attain to you, because I attain better the object of my desire . . . . The eternal principle which has given birth to my desire leads it to an unending, infinite…
De Lubac blames Cajetan for the distortions of Thomas prevalent in modern theology. While claiming to interpret Thomas, Cajetan in fact broke with Thomas in fundamental ways. Most centrally, Cajetan and his modern followers assumed, against Thomas, that no nature can have a desire for any finality that is not…
Anatole France said, “It is rare for any master to belong to the school he has founded as firmly as his disciples do.”
A partial self-review of Solomon Among the Postmoderns : Ironically, while I problematize beginnings at the outset of the book, I don’t do the same with endings. I treat the “end” as a simple end. Several recent encounters - including a fine paper from my student Ryan Handermann - exposed…
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