Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
We lost Crimea. That is very clear. Putin proved he was not lying when he said he would place women and children ahead of his soldiers to storm Ukrainian military bases. Russian soldiers did exactly that with women (some who volunteered and some who were forced). Russia now occupies all…
Sound is an indicator of life and energy. “Sound signals the present use of power, since sound must be in active production to exist at all.” Things don’t have to be alive to make themselves visible, and “a primitive hunter can see, feel, smell, and taste an elephant when the…
In the most famous section of his best-known novel, Dostoevsky’s Ivan Karamazov brings forward his case against God. He opens with a horrific litany of outrages against children. Turkish soldiers make a baby laugh and then shoot a pistol into his face. A little girl is beaten, thrashed, kicked by…
At the heart of Esther Lightcap Meek's splendid Little Manual for Knowing is a concept she picked up from Michael Polanyi, "subsidiary-focal integration." The concept begins from the insight that all our knowing, all our experience, is double. We focus on something, but we are capable of "indwelling" that focal…
Jesus promises the overcomers of Pergamum "hidden manna" and a "white stone." The hidden manna is often linked with the manna stashed away in the ark of the covenant. The white stone has proved more elusive. Exodus tells us that manna was white (Exodus 16:31) and like bdellium (Numbers 11:7),…
Leviticus 23 begins with a reference to “Yahweh’s appointed times” ( mo’ade-YHWH ). Mo’ed is the common term for the feasts of Israel. A few dimensions to this term. First, it means “appointed time” or “designated time.” It is a time set by Yahweh. Yahweh has claimed certain times as…
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Jesus’ disciples are salt and light. The salt is low, on the earth; the light is set up high on a lamp, so it can light the house. James Jordan has pointed out the connection with earth (salt) and heaven (light), and this links also to the Abrahamic promise of…
Jesus preaches the sermon to multitudes that gather for healing and to hear the gospel. They come from every point of the compass. Jesus has gone about “all Galilee,” and the crowds come to Galilee from all over the land - from the transJordan (including Syria, 4:24), from the South…
In the third of his five theological orations, Gregory Nazianzus mounts a reductio against latter-day Arians: “Solve me one more riddle. Were you present at your own generation, and are you now present to yourself, or is neither the case? If you were and are present, who were you, and…
By definition, justification must be by grace. Since the eyes are organs of judgment in Scripture, to find “favor in one’s eyes” is to be justified. Plus, “favor” just means “grace.” We can put it more strongly: Justified by grace is redundant, since “justified” means “grace in one’s eyes.”
Saul sends three sets of men to capture David. As they approach, the Spirit falls on them and they prophesy. Mission unaccomplished. Ahaziah sends three sets of men to capture Elijah. As they approach, fire falls on them and they burn up - until the captain of the last group…
Europeans saw the conquest of the Americas as a new Canaanite conquest. Once they subdued the land, what else would they do but build a temple. According to Hamblin and Seely, “Spanish missionary Toribio de Motolinia (d. 1568), for example, described the colonization and evangelization of New Spain (Mexico) as…
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