Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
One common trope which is regularly invoked in current debates about the defensibility versus the danger of Christian engagement with critical theories (or, species of Critical Theory) is the idea of “ eating the meat but spitting out the bones .” Usually not far behind is a nod to the…
I am writing about the book of Proverbs in the Bible and “Eschatology.” I don’t refer only to the end of time, or “last things” that will happen in history before it ends as we know it. I am referring to all times of God’s judgment wherein He ends an…
“Unity” is the word of the day. In his inaugural address, Joe Biden invoked St. Augustine to inspire Americans to come together around certain shared values. As others have recently argued, Biden misreads Augustine in important ways. My argument here is that if we seek political unity and civic health…
This is part two of a series which began here ( The Half Shekel Temple Tax ) in which I answer back, hoping not to rebut but to glorify, some observations Peter Leithart made in a thought-provoking piece about the Temple Tax as atonement ( Atonement Money ). Adding economic…
It is now commonplace to characterize Wokeness (or “ Wokeism ”) as a religion , or at least religion-like . What I would like to explore is an elaboration on this emergent consensus, supplementing it with some theological analysis. Wokeness, I propose, is a form of post-Protestant neopaganism. It resembles…
Science Fiction movies often retell old stories and myths with greater impact for modern people. A being from another world or a technologically advanced human can embody an ancient god or demon and viewers are suddenly unwittingly enthralled by Ur tales that emerged from hundreds of years of human experience.…
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Douglas Rushkoff ( Program or Be Programmed ) argues that we don’t think enough about how our new technologies run, or how they are biased. Most of us know how to use software; few know how to make it, and we don’t think about how those who do make it…
The Balaamites of Pergamum and Jezebel in Thyatira have the same teaching. Both entice the saints to fornication, which much be a spiritual form of adultery, and to each things sacrificed to idols. These twin sins link back to the apostolic decree after the Council of Jerusalem, which forbade Gentile…
The church at Smyrna will suffer “ten days” (Revelation 2:10). That suggests a brief tribulation, but why ten days? There are various speculations, but James Jordan’s suggestion seems the most fruitful: The ten day tribulation refers to the period between the feast of trumpets (Day 1 of Month 7) and…
Policy debates today are often framed as debates over state intervention, pro or con. It’s assumed that we know what a state intervention is. Ha-Joon Chang questions this assumption in a contribution to Institutions and the Role of the State . Whether child labor laws, environmental standards, or immigration laws…
What’s new about New Institutional Economics (NIE)? In their editorial introduction to Handbook of New Institutional Economics , Claude Menard and Mary Shirley explain that NIE abandons certain assumptions of neoclassical economics, specifically the assumptions that actors possess “perfect information and unbounded rationality and that transactions are costless and instantaneous.”…
In an essay on sacred law in ancient Athens ( The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law , 67), Robert Parker assesses the scope and limits of freedom of speech and religion. He notes, “If one asks how tolerant of unorthodox teachings (and cults) Athenian society was in practice, the…
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