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

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Biblical Studies

Esther and Ruth, Grain and Fruit

1 Introduction ESTHER and RUTH are similar stories. Each details the changing fortunes of a young woman. Each begins with the protagonist in a destitute situation. The fortunes of each reverses by story’s end. Intriguing parallels exist: Scenes : The stories transition through a similar set of scenes, see Table…

by Scott FairbanksApril 29, 2021
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Biblical Studies

A Hermeneutic of Riddles

Maybe this is not the best venue to reveal that I sometimes wonder about all that deep exegesis: the chiasms, the numerology, vowel modifications, the typological labyrinthes, the innumerable exodus patterns that are so often limned by Peter Leithart or James Jordan or Alastair Roberts. Maybe it’s because I am…

by John AhernApril 27, 2021
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Culture

Building New Watchtowers

In 1923, J. Gresham Machen wrote the book he is perhaps most remembered for, “Christianity and Liberalism”. Machen wrote it to help map out the cultural currents that were impacting the church with the hope that the church could be vigilant against the dangers theological liberalism posed to historic Christianity.…

by Steve GreggApril 22, 2021
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Matthew

THE ANNUNCIATION TO JOSEPH | (Matthew 1:18-25)

March 25, nine months before Christmas, is the date that is often associated with the Annunciation to Mary, Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that, by the coming of the Spirit upon her, she would conceive and bear the heir to David’s throne, whose kingdom would have no end. The story is…

by John BarachApril 20, 2021
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Book Review

Book Review: Race and Covenant: Recovering the Religious Roots for American Reconciliation

Race and Covenant: Recovering the Religious Roots for American Reconciliation , edited by Gerald R. McDermott (Grand Rapids, MI: Acton Institute), 278 pp. A group of notable thinkers gathered to discuss biblical resources for addressing racial conflict in America in February 2019 at Samford University in Birmingham. Race and Covenant…

by Ben PetersonApril 15, 2021
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Matthew

Full Preterism’s Fatal Fractal Fracture

“Covenant Creationism,” which might be the most consistent brand of full preterism, is merely dispensationalism turned inside-out. The main cause of disputes over the interpretation of the Scriptures is the practice of interpreting texts in isolation. This applies not only to interpreting a passage without reference to other passages, but…

by Mike BullApril 13, 2021

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Widowed Israel

After David sins with Bathsheba, the prophet Nathan comes to him with a “case” involving a rich man preying on his poor neighbor. It’s David’s own life, but he doesn’t recognize it, and his words of condemnation get turned against him: “You are the man” (2 Samuel 12). When Absalom…

October 7, 2014

Prohibited Speech

Wyatt Mason’s wide-ranging NYT interview with Marilynne Robinson is full of interest for Robinson’s fans. In one of the most incisive portions of the interview, Robinson answers Mason’s question, “What do you think people should be talking about more?” Her consciousness streams in reply: “‘One of the things that bothers…

October 7, 2014

Back to the Feudal

At Bloomberg , Glen Carey observes that “The Middle East may be sliding toward a warlord era, with nation-states increasingly struggling to control all their territory and millions living under the rule of emergent local chiefs and movements.” He quotes Chatham House fellow Nadim Shehadi’s claim that “It is almost…

October 6, 2014

Poetic Beasts

Kathleen Rooney says that poets write animal poetry for two reasons: “one is because animals provide a metaphorical window into the human world from a surprising vantage. Another is because of their very inhumanness and potential sublimity. A successful animal poem makes use of both, weighing those two impulses against…

October 6, 2014
Atonement

Necessity of Atonement

Questions about the “necessity” of atonement are usually framed in terms of the character of God and the nature of sinful humanity. Given these two factors, could God have followed any other path than the cross? Augustine and Aquinas said Yes, Anselm said No. But God and sinful humanity aren’t…

October 6, 2014
Atonement

Disruptive Gospel

Some excerpts from Ivor Davidson’s fine introduction to God of Salvation . Davidson stresses the intrusive character of the gospel’s God. The story is “profoundly startling, disruptive of natural hypotheses about the conceivable relationship of divinity and finitude, shattering to instinctive assumptions that creaturely life must be immune from personal…

October 6, 2014

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