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

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evangelists
Matthew

Dating Matthew, (Part 1)

When might the Gospel according to Matthew have been written? Of course, any answer can only be speculation, but that does not mean we are reduced to groundless opinion. In this series of articles I point the way to an approach different from the general consensus among scholars today which…

by Ralph Allan SmithNovember 22, 2016
hebrew-manuscript-3
Hermeneutics

Synopticity, (Part 2)

In my first essay on “synopticity” I offered a rather rough definition of the phenomenon and important, though not exhaustive examples. In this essay, I want to introduce broader aspects of the phenomenon of “synopticity.” The first example that I have in mind is conventional stories, stories of different historical…

by Ralph Allan SmithNovember 17, 2016
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Ascension

Brexit and the Binding of Satan, Part 4

Since the judgment of Babel was followed by the initiation of the circumcision, the impending end of the circumcision in AD70 explains the significance of the first century miracle of foreign tongues. Except for a few Aramaic “teasers” in the book of Daniel, the Word of God was monolingual and…

by Mike BullNovember 15, 2016
four-evangelists
Hermeneutics

Synopticity, (Part 1)

To the best of my knowledge “synopticity” is not a word used in theology or Biblical studies, but it seems an appropriate word to describe the kind of phenomena associated with the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. These three Gospels tell essentially the same story with significant — sometimes…

by Ralph Allan SmithNovember 10, 2016
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Humor

Learning to Laugh

Humor is a funny thing. It is altogether familiar yet also mysterious. What makes us laugh? Why do we find things funny? There are academic fields of study dedicated to discovering what makes things humorous. These academicians even have a journal entitled International Journal of Humor Research . No joke.…

by Bill SmithNovember 8, 2016
chaucer
Literature

Flawed Means of Grace: Liturgy in The Pardoner's Tale

Out of all the characters in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales , the Pardoner has been called the “one lost soul.” The pious Parson, who closes out the collection of tales with a sermon on the seven deadly sins and how a sinner can absolve himself of them, connects the…

by Christian LeithartNovember 3, 2016

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Literature

Anti-heroism

Critics say that Austen’s work is too restricted. But, as Julia Prewitt Brown says, if this is true, it’s hardly something that Austen would have been unaware of: “we must assume that Jane Austen was highly attuned to the unheroic implications of her subject from the beginning of her career.”…

October 11, 2007
Literature

Austen and her successors

In “What’s Wrong With the World,” Chesterton commented on the differences between eighteenth and nineteenth century fiction. Essentially, the eighteenth century was from Mars, the nineteenth from Venus. Austen developed her tastes and sensibilities in the eighteenth century, unfortunately often read as one from the nineteenth. “The Novel of the…

October 10, 2007
Literature

Jane Austen enters heaven

Kipling was a Janeite, writing not only a short story about British soldiers forming a secret Janeite society in the trenches but also several poems. Here is one called “Jane’s Marriage.” JANE went to Paradise: That was only fair. Good Sir Walter met her first, And led her up the…

October 10, 2007

Sermon notes

INTRODUCTION Jesus ends the central teaching section of the sermon on the mount with warnings against hypocritical judgment and trusting in power. He again assures us of our Father’s kindness. THE TEXT “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and…

October 9, 2007

Spring, River, Lake

Anselm compared the Trinity to the Nile. Water arises from a spring, travels as a river, and empties into the lake. As Dennis Ngien summarizes, “The spring is not the river nor is the lake; the lake is not the spring nor is the river. Yet the spring is the…

October 7, 2007

Solitary God

Richard poses a dilemma to unitarians: “if we say that in true Divinity there exists only one person, just as there is only one substance, then without doubt according to this He will not have anyone with whom He could share that infinite abundance of His fullness.” This lack might…

October 6, 2007

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