Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The Stranger: Do you have to use so many cuss words? The Dude: What the f*ck you talking about? - The Big Lebowski There was a man I knew, an elder at his church, who, whenever he was called upon to announce a pregnancy, preferred the euphemism “with child” because…
I know what you’re thinking. Organ: funeral, ball game, grand dusty cathedral. Why should modern Christians of such a technological age revisit a thousand year-old instrument? Don’t worry, I will not be trying to punch another hole in my Weird Music Preferences and Opinions card here. The truth is, our…
Do things have natures? As I am posing the question, it is not simply a question of whether there are particular kinds of things in the world that have characteristic features, patterns of behavior, trajectories of growth and development. If that is what the word means, then the answer is…
We are excited to announce our 2016 Nevin Lectures featuring Father John Behr. Fr. John is the Dean of St. Vladimir's Seminary and Professor of Patristics, as well as the author of multiple works. He will be delivering three lectures over the course of two days dealing with "What Protestants…
New Year's Day makes one reflective, at least about the past year, perhaps about life, perhaps, more broadly, about time itself. Many view time as a curse. Some see it as a curse because of missed chances. As one day or year moves on to the next, all we can…
It seems a truism to say that we live in the world: that the world is outside of us. In reality the world is very much inside of us too. In fact the world passes through us as much as we pass through it. We breathe in its air, using…
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I n the course of a discussion of the “harmony” of the economy of grace, the great English Puritan John Owen remarks on the incomprehensible universal harmony of creation ( Doctrine of Justification by Faith , 55) : There is a harmony, a suitableness of one thing unto another, in…
W e may think that Jane Austen has only recently entered pop culture consciousness. We'd be wrong. Devoney Looser's The Making of Jane Austen traces Austen's fortunes between 1833, when her novels were republished, and 1975, the bicentenary of her birth. Looser examines book illustrations, dramatizations of the plays, political…
A s the title suggests, Jonathan Pennington's The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing sees the Sermon on the Mount as Jesus' instruction in a way of virtue and wisdom that leads to flourishing. As Pennington puts it, “Jesus provides in the Sermon a Christocentric, flourishing-oriented, kingdom-awaiting, eschatological wisdom…
I n The Sacredness of the Person , Hans Joas offers an “affirmative genealogy” of the notion of human rights. He traces the historical origins of the concept not, in Nietzchean fashion, to debunk, but to validate. Isolating the origins of a set of cultural values or practices need not,…
D avid Goldman argues that Trump sent “a clear message to America’s Muslim clients in Saudi Arabia: No more double games with non-state actors will be tolerated.” The double games have been going on a long time: “Saudi royal family members are funding every radical madrassa in Asia, including those…
I n Paul's letters, the verb “justify” (Gr. dikaioo ) means “acquit, judge favorably,” with overtones of forgiveness and reconciliation. It has an invariably positive meaning. Paul didn't learn to use “justify” that way from ancient or contemporary Greek. As James Prothro explains in a 2016 article, outside the Septuagint…
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