Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
The story of Judges 19 and the subsequent chapters are some of the most shocking and appalling accounts in all of Scripture. The callousness of the old host and the Levite, and the monstrous brutality of the men of Gibeah, leaves us feebly scrabbling for words by which to surmount…
David has become king. He has conquered the capital city of Jerusalem. He has brought the ark of Yahweh into the city and placed it in a tent. He has stationed Levites at the tent to offer sacrifices of praise. An anomaly hits him: He has a cedar-paneled palace, and…
In Part 2 of this series we traced what we have of the development of the epiclesis in the liturgy of the Church. In this third and final part we’ll look at the theological implications of this and how we may apply what we’ve learned. As we saw in Part…
In a 2014 piece published in First Things , I offered a "wish list" for Protestant churches, a checklist for a future catholic Protestantism. The wish list doesn't cover everything. It doesn't mention those things that Protestants, especially Evangelicals, already do, often exceedingly well, things like missions and evangelism and…
In the first part of this series we examined the meaning of “blessing” in Scripture and its parallels in Jewish liturgical tradition, but did not find anything that we could properly call an epiclesis (an invocation of the Holy Spirit). We did find examples of invocation of Jesus to “come”…
When the Aaronic priests were ordained, the blood of the ram of "filling” was placed on the lobe of the right ear, the right thumb, and the right big toe (Lev. 8:22-24). Similarly, the cleansing rite for a leper included smearing the right ear lobe, thumb, and big toe with…
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To hear us talk about voting, one would think that Americans vote on principle. By our votes, we endorse a particular vision of national good that we want to see realized. Our votes declare what role we think civil power should play in that national good. We are moralists with…
Most histories of food tell the story of what we eat and why. For the most part, they don’t pay attention to how the food was prepared, what sorts of technologies went into making the food possible. Bee Wilson’s Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat…
The restaurant is a modern invention, writes Adam Gopnik in The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food , created in France in the years surrounding the French Revolution. It is not, he admits, “the most original of modern instances and institutions” but it is “one of…
I have known James B. Jordan and Peter J. Leithart for several years. I think I can say without any exaggeration that their lectures and writings enabled me to read the Bible through new eyes and to appreciate the depth and richness of it. However, they helped me to understand…
In a New Yorker piece commemorating, and celebrating, the anniversary of the Book of Common Prayer , James Wood suggests that “perhaps the most inspired, and funniest, borrowing from the Book of Common Prayer occurs in Pride and Prejudice , when Mr. Collins makes his infamous marriage proposal to Elizabeth…
INTRODUCTION When Cyrus the anointed shepherd comes (Isaiah 44:28-45:1), he will overthrow Babylon, which enslaved Israel. Babylon took Israel to captivity, but Babylon will one day be taken captive. THE TEXT “Bel bows down, Nebo stoops; their idols were on the beasts and on the cattle. Your carriages were heavily…
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