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

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Tyranny of the Agreeable

Inspired by the “Moscow Mood” Debate In a shocking 1961 study, Yale psychologist Stanley Milgram would don an official-looking white lab coat and tell a volunteer to administer increasing shocks to another “volunteer” in an adjacent room strapped into an “electric chair” just out of sight. The shocks were incrementally…

by John CarpenterJuly 22, 2024
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Apostle Paul

Why Doesn’t Paul Quote Jesus?

My title and the substance of the article are borrowed from a section of David Wenham’s excellent book, Paul: Follower of Jesus or Founder of Christianity? I am appropriating ideas from the pages in his book which address the question, “Why Does Paul refer to Jesus’ Life and Ministry so…

by Ralph Allan SmithJuly 9, 2024
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James

The Epistle of James: Shotgun or Sniper

Some of us may be familiar with the notion that the epistle of James is like a New Testament version of Proverbs or other wisdom literature. According to this line of thinking, the epistle of James (together with the other wisdom literature) is basically a collection of timeless sayings without…

by Chris JohnsonJuly 4, 2024
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Virtue

Doing What You Don’t Want to Do

This summer I started walking a long trail that ran north from our home. On my best days, I would walk a total of five miles at a brisk pace. This trail follows the power lines that serve a significant portion of North Dallas and stretches far past the two…

by Mandi GerthJune 25, 2024
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American Culture

Is Queer Theology Christian?

I am an Australian. I went to the American Academy of Religion mega-fest last year to meet up with some friends, to present a paper at a ‘science and religion’ panel, and to marvel at the sheer scale of how Americans do things. It was quite a ride. Looking at…

by Paul TysonJune 18, 2024
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Ecclesiology

Consumerism, Oikos, and the Role of Women in the Church (Part 4)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 We evangelicals do not often understand the roles of men and women in ministry. Because our consumerist culture has gutted the notion of family as it was historically understood, all Biblical passages about women in church ministry (a familial organism) are almost incomprehensible to…

by John CarpenterJune 11, 2024

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Formation of Christian Theology

One of the best and most comprehensive of the new works on the development of Nicene theology is John Behr’s Formation of Christian Theology . The second volume covers the “Nicene Faith,” examining the theological background of the Arian debate, the development of the controversy, and the theologies of Athanasius…

February 10, 2016
Lent

Why Observe Lent?

To observe Lent rightly, we have to be persuaded that we already stand in God’s favor. Ash Wednesday reminds us to number our days. It helps us gain a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12). We keep Easter to manifest and deepen our prior share in resurrection. We observe Lent to…

February 9, 2016

Seven Angels

Revelation 14 is filled with “another angel” characters. It's odd, because “another angel” appears before there's an angel to be anothered to. How can there be another angel when they ain't been an angel in the first place? The phrase allos aggelos is sued six time (14:6, 8, 9, 15,…

February 9, 2016

Cinematic Density

Analyses of two scenes from The Thin Red Line in Steven Rybin's Terrence Malick and the Thought of Film , Michel Chion's The Thin Red Line , and Lloyd Michaels's Terrence Malick illustrate the almost unfathomable density of Malick's films. In the first scene, Dale, one of the soldiers of…

February 9, 2016

Tabernacle of Witness

After the harvest of Revelation 14, John sees another great sign in heaven, angels with bowls full of the passion of God (Revelation 15:1). As he watches, the “temple of the tabernacle of the testimony ( ho naos tes skenes tou marturiou ) in heaven” is opened (15:5) and angels…

February 8, 2016

Humean Cinema

Mark Cousins once clipped a weed from the grave of David Hume, taped it to a piece of paper, and sent it to Terrence Malick's agent. Not long after, Malick himself called, wanting to talk philosophy. Cousins recounts this in his contribution to The Cinema of Terrence Malick , and…

February 8, 2016

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