Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Midwives are rarely mentioned in Scripture, but play a prominent role in the first chapter of Exodus. The word midwife is used seven times in verses 15-22, though it is used only twice elsewhere in the Old Testament. The reason, I think, is not merely that the midwives were heroic…
Leviathan (41:1-11) is the climax of the theophany, the culmination of the Lord’s speech. His final answer to Job’s injudicious charges against God’s justice. After hearing God rehearse the characteristics of Leviathan and His absolute power over him, Job instantly repents in dust and ashes. He confesses, "I know now…
Our purpose in this study is to lay out the chronology and history of the Kingdom of Judah from the reign of King Josiah to the completion of the exile of the Jews under Nebuchadnezzar, with particular attention to the events recorded in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The Empire of Assyria…
Protestants have always insisted that the sacraments bring no benefit without a response of faith, but this seems to undermine infant baptism, since infants do not appear to be able to exercise faith. Luther and Calvin held together their insistence on faith with infant baptism by claiming that infants can…
Traditional Presbyterian theologians regularly cite 1 Corinthians 11:28 as an argument against the practice of paedocommunion. Children must be able “to examine themselves” before they come to the table. Supposedly this text demands a certain level of intellectual capability as well as the capacity to engage in self-conscious introspection, both…
Yahweh’s two speeches at the end of the book of Job (38-41) should bring some closure to the book. The prologue has the whole cosmic order arrayed against the blameless and upright Job, "a man who feared God and shunned evil" (1:1, 8; 2:3). Yahweh’s capstone speeches affirm God’s absolute…
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It’s common to compare baptism to marriage. But it’s not often recognized that the image is a biblical one. In expounding on the marriage analogy at the beginning of Romans 7, N.T. Wright ( Paul and the Faithfulness of God , 892-3) notes the link back to the baptism exhortation…
The TLS review of Vladimir Nabokov’s letters to his wife during her stay in an asylum ( Letters to Vera ) has some stunning passages. Nabokov can’t keep himself from writing poetry, even in ephemeral letters (or, was he writing in anticipation of future publication?). He describes a “charming borzoi”…
Starting today, November 4, 2014, Trinity House Institute of Birmingham, Alabama, takes a new name, the Theopolis Institute . The Theopolis Institute trains pastors and Christian leaders through intensive courses in biblical theology and liturgics, encourages unity in the church with its ecumenical Nevin Lecture series, and advances theological scholarship…
John sees demonic scorpions released from the abyss (Revelation 9). The description is intricately structured. Verse 5 gives an initial description of the scorpions: 1) Torment for five months 2) Torment of scorpions 3) Sting Verse 10 recapitulates this description in nearly exact reverse order: 1) Tails like scorpions 2)…
An Alex Ross New Yorker review of several recent books on Beethoven stresses the mark he left not only “on all subsequent composers” but on “entire institutions. The professional orchestra arose, in large measure, as a vehicle for the incessant performance of Beethoven’s symphonies. The art of conducting emerged in…
Wonder Woman is the subject of a lot of solemn discussion recently, pushed into highbrow prominence by Jill Lepore’s Secret History of Wonder Woman . According to Katha Pollitt’s NYTBR review, Lepore’s book highlights the setting for the creators of the comic, William Moulton Marston, his wife Elizabeth Holloway, and…
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