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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

Gold, Silver, & Precious Stones

[This essay was originally published in 1988. Given the situation that our new national socialists are getting the world into, I thought it might be useful to reprint it here. – JBJordan] The Bible has quite a bit to say about gold, silver, and precious stones, and the Bible always…

by James B. JordanMay 19, 2009
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Biblical Horizons

The Pastoral Function

I wrote this elsewhere and was encouraged to put it here. It is a comment on what a pastor is. Today, this is not very well understood, and God’s people suffer because of it. There are four professions: medicine, education, law, and religion. Each of these, when done at a…

by James B. JordanMay 17, 2009
Biblical Horizons

The Virgin Tomb: The Womb of the New Birth

James Jordan recently pointed out in private conversation how appropriate it is, in John’s Gospel, that Nicodemus is present both to ask Jesus about being born again, and to see Jesus re-enter the womb of the mother. Nicodemus rhetorically asks, “How can a man be born when he is old?…

by Mark HorneMay 8, 2009
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Romans

Romans 7

This is a problematic and much discussed passage. I’ve been discussing it in another forum, and have decided to move it here and present some very preliminary observations about it. One large question is this: Who is the speaker here and what is his situation? Traditionally, the speaker is seen…

by James B. JordanApril 19, 2009
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Biblical Horizons

Good New Sci-Fi

1. The current issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction includes a good fantasy novella by John C. Wright, who since his conversion has been writing Christianly. This is a fine fantasy with nods to C. S. Lewis and Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and probably Gene Wolfe as well.…

by James B. JordanApril 15, 2009
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American Culture

The Name of Jesus

“It is an experience of our days that the spoken name of Jesus alone exercises an unforeseen power; and the effort which it cost to speak this name is perhaps connected to some faint apprehension of the power which is inherent within it. Wherever the name of Jesus Christ is…

by Richard BledsoeMarch 20, 2009

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Doing Ahab

Micah condemns the people of Judah for following the ways of Omri and Ahab. We know from Kings that this is precisely what Judah has been doing. Within Micah 6, though, there is a sharp pun. Verse 16 condemns Judah for doing the works of the house of Ahab, while…

January 9, 2008

Good for Adam

Faced with the indictment from the prophet Micah, Israel asks what it can do to pacify a scarily angry Yahweh. No number of ascensions will do the trick: What Yahweh requires is justice, covenant loyalty, humility (Micah 6:6-8). The famous “Micah Mandate” is addressed to “man,” which translates adam .…

January 9, 2008

Sermon Outline, First After Epiphany

INTRODUCTION Micah continues his indictment of Israel and Israel’s leaders. But in chapter 6, he gives positive instruction. What God demands is what is good - justice, lovingkindness, and humility (v. 8). THE TEXT “Hear now what the LORD says: ‘Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the…

January 9, 2008
History

Modernism’s challenge

Gabriel Josipovici has a stimulating piece in the November 30 TLS arguing that the modernists pose an enduring challenge to contemporary culture, particularly the contemporary novel. Modernism, he suggests, began with the French Revolution, when it was declared that “everyone was equal now and everyone, in principle, had equal opportunities.…

January 4, 2008

Wedding Sermon

1 John 4:7-8: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. Let us Pray Heavenly Father, You have eternally loved Your Son…

January 2, 2008
Art

Aesthetic Autonomy

Taruskin also gives a new summary of the artistic theory behind many of the lamentations of classical music’s collapse, which he traces from Mendelssohn through Kant to Schopenhaur and Adorno: “The main tenet of the creed is the defense of the autonomy of the human subject as manifested in art…

January 1, 2008

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