Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
When I wrote my commentary on Ecclesiastes A Table in the Mist I took Eccl. 11:1-2 as a reference to the risk of international trade. It sure did seem to me like a reference to Solomon’s risky trade with other nations. Israel exported grain (bread) and Solomon’s ships returned to…
When we read an alphabetical psalm in English, we miss the fact that each verse begins with a new letter of the Hebrew alphabet. I have found one way to get around this, which is for the leader to announce something relevant about each letter before reading his half of…
How does the Lord’s Supper proclaim the death of Jesus until He comes? (1 Corinthians 11:26). Historically, liturgists have attempted to locate some act in the rite of the Supper that corresponds to the death of Jesus: the fraction (breaking of bread), or the fact that bread and wine are…
These notes are posted here by request. We all now live in the age of slob worship thanks to the “sixties.” I never experienced sitting for prayer until 20 years ago. Jesus was unhappy when His disciples could not watch and pray for one hour. Today’s slob Christians complain if…
On September 11, 2001, Jesus brought judgment upon the United States of America. Following His normal procedure, He used an even more evil force to do it (Habakkuk 1-3). The warning Jesus gives throughout the Bible to those He uses to punish others is that they need to repent, or…
Because of Donald Trump, the “Birther” issue is heating up. It is not going away, and is only part of a larger cluster of issues in regard to the President. Virtually all of the relevant documents concerning who he is and where he has been, have been suppressed, at great…
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Christmas gifts should be an occasion for joy, but it’s not necessarily so. Gifts also produce discontent, envy, anger, resentment, and strife. You didn’t get what you wanted; someone else’s gift is bigger and better. And so on and on. In this season of giving, we need to remember the…
Ecclesiastes 3:12-13: There is nothing better than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime; moreover that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor – it is the gift of God. Vapor of vapors, says the preacher. All is vapor. Ecclesiastes reminds us that…
This piece was originally published at the Credenda/Agenda web site in 2009. Being in a Grinchy mood and of a generally Grinchy disposition, I thought it worth re-presenting. Several years ago, when The Passion of the Christ was making headlines, I realized that N. T. Wright has spoiled every Jesus…
At the NYRB web site, Ian Johnson summarizes the changing relations between the Chinese government and the church. He ends with this account of the Huanan church: “A decade ago, authorities in China smashed one of the world’s biggest charismatic Christian churches, the 500,000-member South China (Huanan) Church, sending its…
There are more than two brands, but I’m restricting myself to two. On the one hand there are the careful, balanced assessments of some writer or a collection of writers. These aim to clarify the aims and actual opinions of thinkers of the past. They rebut misinterpretations and misconstruals. Descartes…
Self-help books are easy to mock. Too easy. But this one is too hard to resist. In 2008, Thomas Nelson put out Thank You Power: Making the Science of Gratitude Work for You by Deborah Norville. I have not read the book. From the Table of Contents, it looks to…
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