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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Nobody I’ve read much likes Salman Rushdie’s third-person memoir, Joseph Anton: A Memoir , because nobody much likes the author. Zoe Heller writes the following in the NYRB : “A man living under threat of death for nine years is not to be blamed for occasionally characterizing his plight in…
Naked and “unaccommodated” on a storm-shaken heath, Lear comes to see his failures as a king: “Poor naked wretches, whereso’er you are, / That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, / How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, / Your loop’d and window’d raggedness, defend you / From…
In a 2003 article in Perspectives in Religious Studies , Jason Whitlark gives this sharp summary of the classical Greek linkage between charis (grace) and reciprocity: “(1) Charis’s contextual environment was one of reciprocity, not only among humans but also with the gods. (2) Charis was often merited by the…
At the beginning of his treatise on sacrifice, Lucian satirizes a commercialized view of religious rites: “With the Gods, clearly, nothing goes for nothing. Each blessing has its price. Health is to be had, say, for a calf; wealth, for a couple of yoke of oxen; a kingdom, for a…
Tri-City Covenant Church in Somersworth, New Hampshire has been blessed throughout her forty year history by the support and encouragement of the leadership of Trinity Institute. The teaching ministries of the Trinity ministers have provided foundational Biblical teaching to our church and we look forward to supporting this new consolidated…
What is Jesus announcing when He announces the coming of the kingdom of God? It’s hard to come up with a concrete answer, an answer that keeps its feet on the ground. Let me propose: The kingdom of God is a new pattern of giving and gratitude, of sharing and…
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