Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
When Samuel saw Saul, Yahweh answered him, "Behold, the man of whom I spoke to you! This one will restrain My people" (1 Samuel 9:17) Many English versions of 1 Samuel 9:17 read, "This one will rule over My people," but that is a mistranslation. The Hebrew verb is `atsar…
We have arrived at the tentative date of A.M. 3474 for the decree of Cyrus, and we have determined to operate as if the 70 weeks of Daniel 9 are literal years. We also decided that Messiah the Prince arrives at the beginning of the 70th week, after the 69…
The book of Proverbs appears as a largely random collection of aphorisms drawn from experience saturated in law. Despite its random arrangement, however, the book does have an over-arching structure that reinforces its main themes. One way to gather clues regarding the structure of a biblical book (or any book)…
I recently had the privilege and pleasure of reading the first draught of Gary North’s Economic Commentary on Leviticus , which will be out some time next year. Gary’s comments on Leviticus 27 were stimulating, and caused me to take another look at the passage. The results, which I sent…
As we have seen in this series, each time there is a new covenant, there is a break in the year-by-year chronology. At the same time, each time the break is crossed by information provided in the text. Thus, the year-by-year chronology breaks down at the birth of Abraham, but…
The Openness of Literature Let’s discuss literature for a moment. There are two ways a story or novel can close. The first is called poetic justice. When a story ends with poetic justice, the bad guys are all punished and the good guys are all rewarded. This kind of story…
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Anthony Gierzynski reports on his research supporting “the idea that the Harry Potter series influenced the political values and perspectives of the generation that came of age with these books. Reading the books correlated with greater levels of acceptance for out-groups, higher political tolerance, less predisposition to authoritarianism, greater support…
The world of Genesis can appear to be an alien world. It’s full of strange institutions, unknown names and peoples. But for the author of Hebrews, the world of Genesis is the world of Christians. More than half of his great chapter on faith (Hebrews 11) is taken up with…
As one would expect, Jenson’s brief sketch of a positive account of atonement ( Theology as Revisionary Metaphysics , 133-5) is a Trinitarian account. Atonement means at-one-ment, and we cannot know what that reunion is or how it happens without knowing the One with whom are are made One. Atonement…
When the gods determine that Gilgamesh’s rival-turned-buddy Enkidu must die, he goes through some soul-searching. He not only regrets the battle with the bull of heaven, but begins to regret the storming of the cedar forest that that led to the destruction of Humbaba and the ambition that drove him…
In his four-volume Court of the Gentiles , published in the mid-seventeenth century, Theophilus Gale aimed to “confirm thee Authoritie, and demonstrate the Perfection, of Sacred Scriptures.” His other aim was to refute the Deist idea of natural theology, the notion that theology outside Israel and Christianity took its rise…
There are, James Jordan has argues, three “problems” to solve in Genesis 1:1-2: Formlessness, emptiness, and darkness. Yahweh forms the earth with light, by giving form, and by filling. This is also the pattern of new creation. Jesus comes as the light of the world to dispel the darkness. He…
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