Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
What is below is fairly self-explanatory. This is an exchange I had with a local liberal clergyman on the subject of abortion. The circumstances of the debate are included in the text itself. I initially e-mailed this out to a list of clergy in our city after a local (and…
The seemingly humdrum parts of the Bible often hide overlooked wisdom. Take, for example, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Their stories aren't exactly the most gripping or memorable. They are far less concrete than, say, the story of the Exodus. No one in Ezra is stricken blind or devoured…
For most of the past century, philosophical perspectives on life in the western world have been overtly grim and pessimistic. The optimism of the Enlightenment, generated by confidence in the scientific method and the potential of an increasingly civilized humanity to redress the evils of the world, was shattered by…
Chiastic structures are found all over the Bible, and in recent decades commentators have become more adept at spotting them. But identifying these literary structures is only part of the challenge. There remains the challenge of understanding what they mean. Part of the answer is found in the recognition that…
Part 1 can be found HERE . Clearly, more than just getting worship right is important in changing the world, but since worship is the central act of God’s people, performed on the first day of the week at the center of the world before the very face of God,…
“Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed.” ( Luke 11:27 ) Arguing for Christian morality in a secular society is difficult. A culture which accepts evolutionary dogma has no intellectual place — or inherent desire — for absolute morality, since it believes morality…
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In the London Telegraph, Christopher Hitchens sums up the life of Benazir Bhutto, calling attention to her impressive courage. But Hitchens also notes that the courage had a touch of fanaticism that leaves a dangerous legacy. He recalls that during her terms as Prime Minister she pursued a pro-Taliban policy:…
In the words of the CBQ reviewer of his book, Terry Griffith “opts for a minority position, though he does so with a growing number of authors (see now a work not yet known to G., Hansjorg Schmid, Gegner im 1. Johannesbrief: Zu Konstruktion und Selbstreferenz im johanneischen Sinnsystem [BWANT…
In the words of the CBQ reviewer of his book, Terry Griffith “opts for a minority position, though he does so with a growing number of authors (see now a work not yet known to G., Hansjorg Schmid, Gegner im 1. Johannesbrief: Zu Konstruktion und Selbstreferenz im johanneischen Sinnsystem [BWANT…
Griffith suggests that John writes a pastoral rather than a polemical letter, one designed to shore up the identity of his church and prevent further apostasy. John achieves this by insisting on faithfulness in the confession of Jesus as Messiah, by an exhortation to communal love, and by a warning…
Terry Griffith argues in his Keep Yourselves from Idols that the odd closing exhortation of 1 John (“little children, guard yourselves from idols”) holds the key to the book as a whole. He also argues that the “Jewish matrix of Johannine tradition has been significantly underplayed.” For the last couple…
Malcolm Coombes (http://www.bct.edu.au/Arche/Coombes.pdf) notes that John clusters words together, often in threes, throughout his first epistle. “Teach,” for instance, occurs only three times in the letter, all in 1 John 2:26-27. John uses “devil” “only four times: three times in the subunit 3:7–8 and once in the adjacent subunit 3:9–10.…
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