Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Christians get sex wrong when we start from the wrong end. We start from human desires, passions, biological drives and “needs.” These are treated as givens, as the base-line natural reality of human sexuality. Then we come to the Bible and find, to our surprise, that God places all kinds…
Why isn't Proverbs better known as the Bible's book on "manliness"? I use quotation marks because the term almost seems archaic in our present culture, along with "manhood." Perhaps the Church is too embarrassed to admit the Bible addresses that much attention to the topic. But another reason can be…
In certain evangelical Christian churches it is the tradition to exalt preaching above the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Ever since the rise of Revivalist preachers pushing for conversions, the practice has cast doubt upon the possibility of Baptism or the Lord’s Supper being a “means of grace”…
Perhaps one of the most stimulating sections of Yoram Hazony’s The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture addresses the question of how we are to discern the meaning of biblical narratives, especially how biblical narratives might present arguments of a more general nature. Hazony quotes John Barton’s remarks about the difficulty of…
In this slender volume, Joseph Minich (Ph.D. student at the University of Dallas) attempts to answer some of the deepest questions of human existence. With his honesty, his probing questioning, his wide reading, and his ability to plunge beneath superficial answers, he provides a helpful source of reflection for fellow…
A Closer Look at Noah’s Post-Flood Humiliation In Genesis 9:20-27 My wife is currently leading a Bible study through Genesis for a group of insatiable Bible students. Because she is a deep thinker and has a high view of inspiration, there is no passage she is unwilling to face head…
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In Galatians 2:10, Paul unexpectedly makes a reference to the Jerusalem apostles' interest in the poor and his own eagerness to provide assistance. What is this doing in a letter about justification and Jew/Gentile relations? Historically, this reference suggests that the visit he describes in Galatians 2:10 is the same…
The contrasting lists of “deeds of the flesh” and “fruits of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:16-25 are arranged in a chiastic inversion: a. Walk by Spirit b. Flesh and Spirit at war c. Deeds of the flesh d. No inheritance for flesh c'. Fruits of the Spirit b'. Crucifixion of…
Paul rebukes the Galatians for beginning by the Spirit, and then attempting to revert to the flesh (Galatians 3:1-5). The Spirit initiates the Christian life. Paul makes it clear later in Galatians that the whole Christian life is life in the Spirit. We “walk” by the Spirit, and “stay in…
No “sequence of fossils by itself” can “demonstrate whether Darwinian mutation and natural selection can and did evolve genuine biological novelties (new structures or body plans),” argues Leonard Brand ( Faith, Reason, & Earth History , 281). Some other sort of evidence is needed. Brand doesn't find such evidence in…
Philip Zimbardo and Nikita D. Coulombe ( Man (Dis)connecte d , 226) claim that the average American male teen plays video games 676 hours each year. With that time, he could. . . . Learn the rudiments of French on Rosetta Stone (205 hours); Learn to play the guitar (260…
In Signs and Wonders (65–66), Paul Alexander recounts a conversation with Nigerian theologian Lawrence Nwankwo. Nwankwo expressed the opinion that God wants all Christians to be prosperous. Alexander offered a corrective: “Food, clothing, shelter, health care, and education—these things are necessary and important, but prosperity for all is impossible. It’s…
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