Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
"Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his…
When it comes to the interpretation of Shakespeare, Harold Bloom is my favorite enemy. His writing is brilliant, his knowledge of things Shakespearean encyclopedic, and the insights he offers may puzzle, startle, or amaze, but they always educate. How then can he be an enemy? Because his anti-Christian bias is…
Theopolis President Peter Leithart spent the last week of March lecturing on worship and sacraments in England. He delivered four lectures on liturgy in Bolton, a town north of Manchester, arguing that Christian worship must be worship fit for the king and fit for the kingdom that has come in…
When we think about eschatology, we think immediately of Daniel, of Matthew 24-25, of 1 Corinthians 15 and 2 Thessalonians 2, and of course of Revelation. We don’t, I suspect, think about Genesis. Perhaps Genesis 3:15, with its promise of the woman’s seed, would come to mind. So might the…
Alexander Schmemann in his book, Of Water and the Spirit, expounds the question that appears in nearly all the older baptismal liturgies, “Do you renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world and all sinful lusts of the flesh.” This renunciation, according to…
Franklin Graham recently posted the following statement on his Facebook page: “Listen up—Blacks, Whites, Latinos, and everybody else. Most police shootings can be avoided. It comes down to respect for authority and obedience. If a police officer tells you to stop, you stop. If a police officer tells you to…
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Richard of St. Victor presents an argument for the Trinity that starts with human love. Self-love is not the highest form of love; perfected love is self-transcending love, and ultimately the love of two directed toward a third, who returns love. A God who is love must therefore be Triune.…
Western Trinitarian theology develops from Augustine, but because Augustine is complex the Western tradition develops along different - equally Augustinian - pathways. That is the argument of Dennis Ngien’s 2005 study of the filioque in medieval theology. Anselm, he says, develops the “essentialist” aspect of Augustine’s doctrine, starting with the…
Richard Hays has pointed to Job allusions in various writings of Paul. One of these occurs in 2 Timothy 1:12: “I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have…
A number of these thoughts were suggested by students during exams during the last week. I can’t remember now who said what, but thanks to them all. 1) Isaiah 61 begins with a declaration of the Spirit, and ends with a reference to a garden. That suggests the possibility that…
John Barach writes concerning the prayer for infant baptism I posted earlier today: “that is the standard Reformed baptismal form which was probably written by Petrus Dathenus in the 16th century and adopted by the Synod of Dort. That’s also the same form that’s used for baptism in the Canadian…
CRC Pastor Raymond Coffey responded to my post on the 1959 baptismal rite with this comment: “Your notes were right on from the 1959 hymnal. Apart from updating and compressing some language, there are several significant differences between the 1959 Edition and the current one. The most significant is the…
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