Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
> Dave, > Jason > > I am surprised this is so hard for me to communicate effectively. Prosecuting Leithart while inwardly struggling with my questions was easy, because the issue was NEVER “Whose views are correct?” In a Reformed denomination we all operate under the supposition that our doctrinal…
Discussions on the catholicity of the church have led one RC advocate to write to me that according to 2 Timothy 1:16-18, Paul is clearly and unmistakably praying for a dead person. He points to a couple of Protestant writers who had agreed with this, though they are in a…
The great True Catholic historian, Philip Schaff, points out as regards the beginning of prayers to the saints in the post-Nicene Church: Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church (Volume III, Nicene and Post-Nicene Christianity A.D. 311-390, P. 409-427). In the first three centuries the veneration of the martyrs in…
The Nicene Creed states that the Holy Spirit “spoke through the prophets in (or into) one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.” Contrary to usual translations, neither the Greek nor the Latin originals say “ I believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.” As written, the thought of the authors…
One of the latest sectarian movements to arise around the fringes of the Christian religion is something called “family integrated churches.” What this seems to mean, depending on the advocate, is that youth groups are bad, age-segregated Sunday Schools are bad, families need to sit together in church, and even…
This series of post were originally published at the Biblical Horizons blog. The entire paper can be downloaded HERE . 8. Comments on The Covenantal Gospel by Cornelis van der Waal This is an excellent book, and every Bible student should read and master it. Cornelis van der Waal was…
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The opening statement of Song of Songs 2 is spoken by the Bride, but the Bridegroom chimes in with an enhancement. This is the liturgical structure of conversation, and of life, and of love. When Adam named the animals, he found no one to share in His priestly task in…
Psalm 103:1 is a small chiasm that hints at large anthropological conclusions: A. Bless Yahweh B. O my soul B’. All that is within me A’. [Bless] His holy name. Though the verb “bless” is not repeated in the final clause, it is implied. Yahweh and “holy name” are clearly…
I have often cited this passage from Thomas Oden’s Pastoral Theology: Essentials of Ministry (85), though I long ago forgot it came from Oden. It has some flaws, but it’s a moving statement of the privilege of pastoral vocation: “”There are five incomparable days in the believer’s life. The day…
Expounding on Jesus’ words about adultery in the heart (Matthew 5:27-28), John Paul II notes “a significant convergence” with as well as a “fundamental divergence” from postmodern “masters of suspicion” ( Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology Of The Body , 310-12 ). Nietzsche, Marx, and Freud all…
Edward Vacek ( Spirituality and Moral Theology: Essays from a Pastoral Perspective , 103): says that “Gratitude essentially has a ‘for me’ or ‘for mine’ quality. We can, properly speaking, give thanks only when we or persons whose lives we share have been benefited. We can be happy that a…
Thinking through the dynamics of gift and gratitude, linguistic analogies are useful. A statement or proposal or question is a gift. A response is supposed to be a counter-gift, an act of gratitude, grace returned for the grace given. To keep a conversation going, you need to receive the gift…
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