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Writing

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

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Hermeneutics

Hermeneutical Polytheism

A couple of decades ago, when I was a young Reconstructionist (instead of a middle-aged post-Reconstructionist), I coined the phrase "political polytheism" to describe how modern evangelical Christians approach matters of social law and politics. Christians want the Bible for Church and family life, but turn to other gods for…

by James B. JordanJanuary 28, 1996
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Biblical Horizons

Concerning Contracts and Covenants

Gary North has from time to time taken note of some of the differences between contracts and covenants. For him, one of the most important is the oath-character of a covenant. Naturally, the English terms "contract" and "covenant" can be used with varying nuances by different writers, and their zone…

by James B. JordanJanuary 5, 1996
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Biblical Studies

Rethinking the Order of the Old Testament

The Book of Chronicles is the last book in the Hebrew Canon of the Old Testament. The word "canon" means "authoritative list" when used in connection with the Bible. What we call the Hebrew Canon consists of 24 books arranged in three major divisions: the Law, the Prophets, and the…

by James B. JordanDecember 28, 1995
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Biblical Studies

At The Center of the Book of Kings

by: Peter Leithart and James Jordan The Book of Kings is structured chiastically, or concentrically. To see this clearly, we start in the middle and work our way outward. 2 Kings 3–7 record the central events of the ministry of Elisha. Elisha makes his first appearance in 1 Kings 19:19-21,…

by Peter LeithartNovember 5, 1995
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Judges

Dynastic Aspirations in the Book of Judges

(The following is a supplement to my book, God’s War Against Humanism , a study of the book of Judges, available from Biblical Horizons for $20.00 – a photocopy of the original book, which is now out of print). The turning point in the book of Judges is 8:22-28. Here…

by James B. JordanNovember 5, 1995
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Biblical Horizons

Doing the Lord’s Supper

From time to time I am asked how I think the Lord’s Supper should be done. This essay is my response to that question. To start with, we should agree that the Lord’s Supper is the only ritual we are obligated to do in the New Covenant on a routine…

by James B. JordanNovember 5, 1995

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Heavenly Economy

Some Christmas reflections on what it means to receive bread from heaven over at www.firstthings.com this morning.

December 21, 2012

Trinity House: A Student Perspective

I don’t think I’ve ever known someone so humble and hungry to learn—even from his students, even from his undergrads—as Dr. Leithart. He loves the subjects he teaches in such an un-possessive way; he both cares for and respects his students enough to interact earnestly with their ideas. I’ve witnessed…

December 20, 2012
Theology

Tracing to God

In one of his Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses, Volume 5 (International Kierkegaard Commentary) Kierkegaard analyzes the respond of Job to his suffering: “Job traced everything back to God; he did not detain his soul and quench his spirit with deliberation or explanations that only feed and foster doubt, even though the…

December 19, 2012
History

Impersonal Gift

In her contribution to Negotiating the Gift: Pre-Modern Figurations of Exchange (Veroffentlichungen des Max-Planck-Instituts fur Geschichte) , Beate Wagner-Hasel offers this penetrating critique of Marcel Mauss’s The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies : “Mauss indirectly completed in theoretical terms the very process of depersonalizing and…

December 19, 2012

Trinity House Institute Website

For various reasons, we have decided to change the name of the Trinity Institute to “Trinity House Institute for Biblical, Liturgical, and Cultural studies,” “Trinity House Institute” for short and “Trinity House” for shortest. We are getting a web page set up. Currently, the page includes only our mission statement,…

December 19, 2012

Locke’s project, Locke’s self

In a superb essay on Locke’s “social imagination” in Rethinking Modern Political Theory: Essays 1979-1983 (Cambridge Paperback Library) (21-22), John Dunn traces Locke’s project to a “simple” central concern: “As a whole this thinking can be legitimately represented as the attempt to think through the political implications of a rather…

December 18, 2012

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