Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In a recent article in Biblical Horizons , I argued that the imagery of James 1:21 alludes to baptism, and particularly to baptism as an ordination and incorporation into the holy priesthood. This understanding of baptism as ordination to priesthood is not, I have since discovered, original, but in fact…
He will be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two of them (Zechariah 6:13b). A prime difficulty in the interpretation of this verse is the antecedent of the pronoun "them." A number of alternatives have been offered. Some suggest that the "two"…
Like certain kinds of music, the unchanging rhythm of Aquinas's Summa gets into your bones. Read a few sections and it begins to run through your head. You start drumming your fingers, humming, swaying gently to the rhythm of Videtur-Sed Contra-Responsio, Videtur-Sed Contra-Responsio, “It seems-On the contrary-I answer.” The only…
The Book of Revelation is a gold mine of liturgical information. The various hymns and exclamations in Revelation have always been used in Christian worship. As I have been studying Revelation this year, it occurred to me that make a complete hymn out of the various hymns in the book.…
In the book of Revelation we find a triad of Strong Angels, and another triad of Other Angels. The purpose of this essay is to explore the Biblical background of these two sets, and thus fill out their meaning. The first triad of angels we encounter in the Bible comes…
In Revelation, the term aggelos means messenger, of course, but with a special emphasis on messenger as covenant administrator. This is immediately obvious from the fact that the angels are constantly acting to enforce the covenant one way or another: sealing people, bringing judgment, calling for repentance, etc. They are…
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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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