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Writing

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

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Biblical Studies

Funerals and Flutes

Matthew 8-9 records three clusters of miracles, interspersed with snatches of Jesus’ teaching about various aspects of discipleship. Just as the Sermon on the Mount displays the authority of Jesus’ Word in teaching, these chapters display the authority of Jesus’ Word over sickness, uncleanness, the creation, demons, and death. In…

by Peter LeithartApril 17, 1992
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Baptism

Daddy, Why Was I Excommunicated?

Since the early 1980s, several of the conservative Reformed Churches have debated and wrestled with the issue of paedocommunion (infant communion). The PCA and the OPC assigned study committees to examine the question, both of which produced useful reports both in support of and against the position. Though the debate…

by Peter LeithartApril 13, 1992
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Biblical Chronology

Chronologies and Kings, Part 9: Jehu, Hazael, and Assyria

(This issue of Biblical Chronology concludes a discussion of the Biblical and Assyrian chronologies, begun in previous posts. Click on the category link of "Biblical Chronology" above to see previous issues. Did Shalmaneser Know Jehu? Allis writes: "The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser contains, in addition to brief accounts of the…

by James B. JordanMarch 23, 1992
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American Culture

Arts and Play, Part 4

Movies Movies as an art form have a powerful impact because they take place in a dark room, on a large screen, with no distractions, and because they entail many of the arts: music, acting, choreography, design and color, etc. A movie can be an overwhelming experience for a young…

by James B. JordanMarch 23, 1992
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Leviticus

The Ecology of the Tribute Offering

The Hebrew word translated as "grain offering" or "cereal offering" is minchah . Like the translation of `olah as "burnt offering," the translation of minchah as "grain offering" is somewhat deceiving, since minchah does not refer to grain or cereal. In liturgical contexts outside of Leviticus, in fact, the word…

by Peter LeithartMarch 13, 1992
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Ascension

Skinned and Cut

"He shall then skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces" (Leviticus 1:6). The normal word ( `olah ) that is translated as "burnt offering" and "whole burnt offering" has nothing to do with either burning or wholeness. It is the noun form of a verb meaning "to…

by Peter LeithartMarch 13, 1992

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Theology

Social and Christian Virtue

Thomas Chalmers wrote in his Application of Christianity to the Commercial and Ordinary Affairs of Life (1821 edition): “Tell us, if the hold we have of a man’s own personal advantage were thus broken down, in how far the virtues of the mercantile world would survive it? Would not the…

January 21, 2008
Theology

Augustine’s Composition non mal

James J. O’Donnell notes in a superb introductory essay to Augustine’s City of God that the first 10 books, written in a classical, Ciceronian style that later yields to the plainer style of Christian exhortation, exhibit “measured symmetries” that “gradually disintegrate in books 11-22.” In particular, referring to the CCL…

January 21, 2008
History

Rare humilite

H. -I. Marrou wrote in his doctoral thesis, “Saint Augustin compose mal.” Like Augustine himself, though, Marrou later published a Retractatio to accompany a new edition of his dissertation, in which he described his comment on Augustine’s composition “jugement d’un jeune barbare ignorant et presomptueux.’

January 21, 2008

Sermon Outline, Third Sunday After Epiphany

INTRODUCTION In the Pentateuch, Moses came down from the mountain and led Israel through a wilderness of rebellion and judgment. Jesus the new Moses comes down from the mountain at the head of a great multitude (8:1). But his journey is a journey of healing, not judgment. THE TEXT “When…

January 21, 2008

Eucharistic meditation, Second Sunday After Epiphany

Micah 7:1: For I am like the fruit pickers, like the grape gatherers; there is not a cluster of grapes to eat, or a first-ripe fig which I crave. As we saw in the sermon this morning, Micah’s search for fruit on the vines and fig trees of Israel anticipates…

January 20, 2008

Exhortation, Second Sunday After Epiphany

Every church season has a color, and the color for Epiphany is green. Why? In Scripture as in life, green is a color of life. The righteous will flourish in old age, says the Psalmist; they shall be full of sap and very green. Solomon tells us that the one…

January 20, 2008

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