Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The story of Judges 19 and the subsequent chapters are some of the most shocking and appalling accounts in all of Scripture. The callousness of the old host and the Levite, and the monstrous brutality of the men of Gibeah, leaves us feebly scrabbling for words by which to surmount…
David has become king. He has conquered the capital city of Jerusalem. He has brought the ark of Yahweh into the city and placed it in a tent. He has stationed Levites at the tent to offer sacrifices of praise. An anomaly hits him: He has a cedar-paneled palace, and…
In Part 2 of this series we traced what we have of the development of the epiclesis in the liturgy of the Church. In this third and final part we’ll look at the theological implications of this and how we may apply what we’ve learned. As we saw in Part…
In a 2014 piece published in First Things , I offered a "wish list" for Protestant churches, a checklist for a future catholic Protestantism. The wish list doesn't cover everything. It doesn't mention those things that Protestants, especially Evangelicals, already do, often exceedingly well, things like missions and evangelism and…
In the first part of this series we examined the meaning of “blessing” in Scripture and its parallels in Jewish liturgical tradition, but did not find anything that we could properly call an epiclesis (an invocation of the Holy Spirit). We did find examples of invocation of Jesus to “come”…
When the Aaronic priests were ordained, the blood of the ram of "filling” was placed on the lobe of the right ear, the right thumb, and the right big toe (Lev. 8:22-24). Similarly, the cleansing rite for a leper included smearing the right ear lobe, thumb, and big toe with…
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A set of lecture notes for an upcoming lecture on the corporate character of worship. Some of this material has been posted previously on this site. INTRODUCTION Sometimes, Christians think that the transition from old to new is a transition from a corporate form of religion to a more individualistic…
Wayne C. Booth, The Rhetoric of Rhetoric: The Quest for Effective Communication (London: Blackwell, 2004), 206pp. Since the 1961 publication of his now-classic book, The Rhetoric of Fiction , Wayne Booth, an Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Chicago, has been one of the nation’s leading authorities on…
1 Corinthians 12:12-13: ?Even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or…
1 Kings 22:26-27: ?Then the king of Israel said, ?Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king?s son; and say, ?Thus says the king, ?Put this man in prison, and feed him the bread of affliction and the water of affliction…
1 Kings 22: Micaiah said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd, and the Lord said, these have no master; let them return every man to his house in peace. Micaiah prophesies of Israel’s defeat at Ramoth-gilead, and of Ahab’s death. Ahab…
Micaiah is a prophet of Yahweh, the only prophet of Yahweh available to advise Ahab and Jehoshaphat as they plan to recover the city of Ramoth-gilead from the Arameans. As Ahab expects, Micaiah prophesies evil, warning that Ahab will die in battle and Israel will be left like sheep without…
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