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Writing

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

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Biblical Studies

The Literary Structure of the Whole Bible

In this essay we will think about how the whole Bible is structured as one Word of God. To begin with, there is only one Bible, not two. While we divide the Bible into Old and New Testaments, that division has no more meaning than divisions into chapters and verse,…

by James B. JordanMay 16, 2019
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Catholicity

Catholicity and Integrity

How should one badly bruised and inadequate church relate to another? (I am not addressing the blessed possessors of absolutely perfect churches, naturally.) I believe there are three things to bear in mind. First, we must be open to the values in other Christian traditions - even Roman Catholic and…

by James B. JordanMay 14, 2019
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Chiasm

Fertile Meaning

The third and sixth day have a second creative act. Note the chiastic arrangement of the material in these special acts and the parallelism between them, see the figure below. The author arranges the description of each day as a chiasm. Each line in the chiasm is mated with a…

by Scott FairbanksMay 9, 2019
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Biblical Theology

Nakedness and Clothing

Now the two of them were naked, the man and his woman, and they did not sense shame (Genesis 2:25) The nakedness of Adam and Eve requires several comments. First of all, against those who think that nakedness is what God intended for humanity as a permanent estate, we have…

by James B. JordanMay 7, 2019
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Epistemology

Restoring the “Other” in Mother

I’ve been reflecting on the meaning of integration, and our longing for integration in a fragmented world. I’ve been connecting my own covenant epistemology further with the thought of scientist-philosopher Michael Polanyi, artist Makoto Fujimura, and Classical Christian metaphysician D.C. Schindler. In my last post , and now in this…

by Esther Lightcap MeekApril 30, 2019
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Hermeneutics

Go Tell that Vixen!

Luke 13:31-33 is one of the strangest passages in the Gospel of Luke. It begins with a time note that sounds emphatic “At that very hour.” Then, we are told of Pharisees bringing a message that Herod wants to kill Jesus! In His answer, Jesus speaks of a three day…

by Ralph Allan SmithApril 23, 2019

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Philosophy

Pure Thought

There should be - probably there is - an anthropological study of Western philosophy as a highly rarefied form of dirt avoidance. Plato with his “pure and unadulterated” access to truth; Descartes’ clear and distinct ideas; Kant’s purity of reason. I’m thinking of a history of philosophy that reads Plato…

August 25, 2005
Literature

Shakespeare the historicist

J.L. Simmons notes that Shakespeare consistently depicts Rome “as a pagan world in which the characters must perforce operate with no reference beyond the Earthly City.” As a result, “all attempts to rise above the restrictions of man and his imperfect society, are tragically affected by the absence of revelation…

August 25, 2005
Literature

Political Gratitude in Shakespeare’s Roman Plays

Some discarded fragments from a paper that got too long. As early as Xenophon, ingratitude has seen as a cause of sedition, and during the middle ages the social and political context of feudalism strengthened this link. Xenophon wrote, “And they [the Persians] bring one another to trial also charged…

August 24, 2005
Literature

Political Gratitude in Shakespeare’s Roman Plays

Some discarded fragments from a paper that got too long. As early as Xenophon, ingratitude has seen as a cause of sedition, and during the middle ages the social and political context of feudalism strengthened this link. Xenophon wrote, “And they [the Persians] bring one another to trial also charged…

August 24, 2005

Sermon Outline, August 28

INTRODUCTION In the first chapters of Ephesians, Paul describes God’s eternal plan for the human race and for the world. He has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, and He has now intervened in the history of death and sin to rescue us, to exalt us…

August 23, 2005
Theology

Necessity of Anthropomorphism

Bavinck argues that without anthropomorphism, we have only skepticism and agnosticism: “Those . . . who contest our right to use anthropomorphisms, thereby in princiuple deny the possibility that God in fact reveals himself in his creatures, are logically bound to proceed to the denial of creation, and are finally…

August 23, 2005

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