Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In The Meaning of History , Nikolai Berdyaev argues that the ancient Greeks had no concept of history and no philosophy of history because their concept of God and the world did not allow for it. “They conceived the world aesthetically, as a finite and harmonious cosmos. The most representative…
You know how the curtain parts at the beginning of a play, and you see a new scene, with characters and sets and incidents that had remained hidden up til then? Church last week was like that. Except the curtain was made up of all the things I thought were…
Genesis 3 records the terrible day when humanity fell into sin and shalom was violated. This was a moment of cosmic treason, when Adam and Eve violated their relationship with God by rebelling against His command and fell into the severe ignobility we all experience. The entrance of sin wrecked…
One of the most important contributions of twentieth-century Catholic nouvelle théologie , and of Henri de Lubac and Jean Danielou in particular, was its rehabilitation of the typological interpretation of the Bible practiced by patristic and medieval theologians. Typological interpretation assumes that events and institutions of the Old Testament present…
The Catholic News Service has reported that Pope Francis has called for the abolition of not only the death penalty, but also of life in prison. In a meeting with representatives of the International Association of Penal Law, the pontiff called for all “Christians and people of good will” to…
Each year, the United Nations designates November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon explains, “Violence against women and girls takes many forms and is widespread throughout the globe. It includes rape, domestic violence, harassment at work, abuse in school, female…
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This paper is an exploration of the modern urban situation, how it differs from the older cities, and the challenges modern urban/suburban civilization poses for Christianity. All of America, ERH claims, is urbanized by industry, which removes the barriers between city and country. The contrast of factory and suburb has…
According to our translations, the OT describes idols as “vain” (eg, Isaiah 57:13), but the word used is the same as the word in Ecclesiastes - and is better translated as “vaporous.” The point is not simply that idols are worthless, but that they are ephemeral. Idols may provide all…
In his study of Judaic Baptism, James W. Dale quotes Jewish War , 3.7, where Josephus speaks of a city being, in Dale’s translation, “overmersed” ( epibaptizo ). Dale comments, “It is intolerable to suppose that a city is figured, through the departure of an individual [in this case, Josephus…
One final quotation: “The creation of a plural system of Churches with their separate baptisms (Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist) implied also the emergence of a plural system of civil citizenries or communities. Therefore, in the case of States with multiple confessional communities, new systems had to be devised to test the…
Another quotation from the aforementioned article: “The abolition of compulsory baptism at birth was the most radical kind of sacramental reform ever conceived in the 16th century. In fact, it implied not only separation from the old compulsory Church, but also secession from the State: adult baptism, based on freedom…
In an article in Religion and Philosophy , Elena Brambilla and Joaquim Carvalho discuss the connections between baptism and citizenship under the ancien regime. They begin by distinguishing two levels of citizenship: “It is therefore essential to consider, as a preliminary step, and also at the historical level, the distinction…
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