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

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Epistemology

A Cheer for the Mystics

Mystical theologians are often unguarded, extreme, un-nuanced, pressing to the edges of heresy, sometimes beyond. Still, the mystics are worthy of study. Why? Many reasons. Unlike some late medieval and post-Reformation dogmaticians, mystical theologians are often instinctively and richly Trinitarian. Historical-critical approaches to Scripture left mystical theologians virtually untouched; mystics…

by Peter LeithartSeptember 2, 2013
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Literature

Shadow and Substance in Shakespeare's Venice

Portia of Belmont is a “lady richly left,” as Bassanio says of her in the first Act of The Merchant of Venice . Plus, she’s beautiful and wise. Suitors clamber to Belmont in hope. Her father knew it would be so, and in his will set up a fairy-tale test…

by Peter LeithartAugust 28, 2013
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Liturgy

Liturgy Traps

[fve]http://vimeo.com/72195198[/fve]

by James B. JordanAugust 26, 2013
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Deuteronomy

Victory Food

In the nature of the case, “the” Christian meditation on Deuteronomy 14:1-21 cannot be written. Meditation offers too many possibilities, opens too many doors. There is not one and only one correct set of associations for a Christian to consider when thinking of Deuteronomy 14:1-21. We could, for example, consider…

by Ralph Allan SmithAugust 21, 2013
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Romans

David's Sin and Israel's Salvation, Part I

Having retold the story of the cumulative sin of Israel leading to the great atonement on the cross, Paul then reemphasizes that, just as both Jew and Gentiles were locked into sin and judgment, now they are both justified by faith: Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded.…

by Mark HorneAugust 20, 2013
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Deuteronomy

You are what you eat

Deuteronomy 14 is full of allusions to events of Israel’s history and other portions of Scripture. What would an Israelite learn by mediation on these allusions? The answer, I believe, is at least fourfold. Faith, Worship, War For the ancient Israelite first hearing Moses’ sermon, or perhaps hearing it read…

by Ralph Allan SmithAugust 15, 2013

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Praxemics

Another installment of my review of Naphtali Meshel’s The “Grammar” of Sacrifice at the Trinity House site .

October 6, 2014

Shepherd-Martyrs

An excerpt from a chapel homily at Tri-City Christian School, Somersworth, New Hampshire. Christians are always called to be witnesses, but in the world you enter your witness will take the form of martyrdom. You are called to be witnesses to the truth of God’s Word in the face of…

October 3, 2014

Simplifying Scripture

Adonis Vidu ( Atonement, Law, and Justice ) focuses much of his attention on the import that the “doctrine” of divine simplicity holds for our understanding of atonement. He denies that simplicity is a philosophical imposition on Scripture, but rather a rule of reading Scripture that preserves the unity of…

October 3, 2014

Unified Action

Adonis Vidu ( Atonement, Law, and Justice ) argues that “What simplicity, or the perfection of divine agency, helps us to understand, however, is that the most basic unit of divine action in history is not the ‘discrete’ actions (teaching, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension), but the whole mission of God in…

October 3, 2014

The Meteoric Rise of Good Republicans

After Windsor, I predicted we would see the rise of “Good Republicans” who backed away from social issues, and from defending marriage in particular. The Good Republican Watch continues apace. The New York Times reported earlier this week on the “tidal” shift in the culture wars. Republicans are on the…

October 3, 2014

U2’s Thickening Ecclesiology

A decade ago, a critic at Christianity Today worried about U2’s “thin ecclesiology.” Though openly Christian, Bono and his crew have not associated with any church. Writing at The New Yorker , Joshua Rothman argues that the last several decades have bolstered the band’s theology. He connects their chariness about…

October 2, 2014

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