Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Creationism is debated widely in the US, especially when it comes to teaching creation as an alternative theory of origins in public schools. Every few months, there’s another poll showing that many Americans still believe Ussher’s claim that the world was created around 4000 BC, which always elicits a contemptuous…
Walker Percy died in 1990, but his six published novels and his collections of essays are more relevant than when he wrote them. Percy was an American Dostoevsky, and that was no accident. “The European novels,” he says in a 1974 interview, “are more philosophical, more novels of ideas.” Dostoevsky,…
The Spirit is God’s agent for renewing the creation, for restoring bonds between nations, for knitting together people into the body of Christ. The Spirit is the renewer of the world, and the bond of all relations. That means that if you want your family to be knit together, if…
In their basic physical sense , the verbs translated as "persecute" in the Bible mean “chase” or “pursue,” and that fits the context quite naturally. As Pharaoh “pursued” (LXX, dioko ; Heb. radaph ) Israel into the wilderness, for example, so the dragon chases the woman back to her place…
Seng-Kong Tan’s Fullness Received and Returned is a densely argued, thoroughly researched, contextually sensitive study of participation in the soteriology of Jonathan Edwards. Along the way, Tan deals with many of the central themes in Edwards’s theology. As with many recent studies of Edwards, Tan’s monograph demonstrates both Edwards’s creativity…
The title of James Joyce’s first novel, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man indicates that it is a bildungsroman , a story of formation that describes the formative experiences of a poet who aspires to artistic greatness. The education described is Joyce’s own. The novel recounts the failing…
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Richard A. Burridge, Four Gospels, One Jesus? (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994). Richard Burridge, dean of King’s College, London, has produced an insightful and very accessible introduction to the gospels. The book is straightforwardly organized: After an introduction that treats the various forms of modern New Testament criticism, he offers a…
I found several reviews (and partial reviews) of articles and books on my hard drive, and will post them here. Some of them were posted on a now-defunct web site, so this will make them available on the web, for those who know that this site exists! John Milbank, “The…
Teaching on Basil’s treatise On the Holy Spirit this year, I was impressed again with this wonderful treatise. Some quotations, from the St Vladimir’s edition: On the cosmic role of the Spirit: All things thirsting for holiness turn to Him; everything living in virtue never turns away from Him. He…
In 1 Samuel 12, Samuel gives his farewell speech to the people. He claims that he has not abused his position in any way, and asks the people to confirm this, citing Yahweh and “His anointed” as witnesses in his defense. Who is the “anointed”? Clearly, it is someone distinct…
Sermon Notes for August 31, 2003 Jubilee, Luke 4:1-44 INTRODUCTION At His baptism, Jesus is filled with the Spirit (Luke 3:21-22). As any Jew would know, the next thing that’s going to happen is a battle. Depend on it: When the Spirit comes, somebody’s gonna get hurt. Like Othniel (Judges…
Robert C. Tannehill’s 2-volume work, The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts , is full of sharp insights. At least that’s true of the bit I’ve read. He points out, for example, the basic structural device of using prophetic quotations and long speeches to introduce each of the major figures in his…
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